Reply to Lin Boqu’s Telegram[1]

(May 11, 1944)

Regarding the conditions for negotiations with the Kuomintang, Lin Biao previously raised four points.[2] At the time, He Yingqin replied that the circumstances were different and that they would need to be reconsidered. Therefore, this year Enlai put forward five points[3] (namely, the final five points in his speech at the Sun Yat-sen commemoration meeting). Now that Zhang and Wang[4] want us to state our proposals first, we may use these five points along with the six points you are bringing as the content for negotiations, and demand that after arriving in Chongqing, the two radio stations of the Chongqing Office and the Xi’an Office[5] be restored first, along with the free movement of personnel, so as to facilitate the negotiations.

[1] This is the main content of Mao Zedong’s reply telegram to Lin Boqu, based on the decision of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee.

[2] From October 1942 to June 1943, Lin Biao was dispatched by the CPC Central Committee to Chongqing to negotiate with the Kuomintang. During the negotiations, Lin Biao, following the Central Committee’s instructions, put forward four points to the Kuomintang: (1) On the condition that the CPC be granted legal status, the Kuomintang could be allowed to establish party organizations in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region and the anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines; (2) The Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army be reorganized into 4 armies comprising 12 divisions; (3) The Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region be converted into an administrative region, with its personnel and territory remaining unchanged; (4) The forces of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army south of the Yellow River be moved northward after victory in the War of Resistance.

[3] This refers to the five demands put forward by Zhou Enlai to the Kuomintang government in his speech “On the Issues of Constitutionalism and Unity,” delivered on March 12, 1944, at the Yan’an memorial meeting for the 19th anniversary of Sun Yat-sen’s death. The demands were: Recognize the legal status of the Communist Party of China nationwide; Recognize the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region and all anti-Japanese base areas as local governments under the Kuomintang government; Recognize the Eighth Route Army, the New Fourth Army, and all armed forces behind enemy lines as units under the jurisdiction and support of the Kuomintang government; Restore the designation of the New Fourth Army; Lift the blockade and encirclement of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region and all anti-Japanese base areas.

[4] Zhang and Wang refer to Zhang Zhizhong and Wang Shijie.

[5] This refers to the Eighth Route Army offices in Chongqing and Xi’an.