To Comrade Biwu[1] and Comrade Boqu[2]:

All your telegrams (Zhi, Hui, Wen) have been received. My reply is as follows:

We have decided to raise three items concerning national affairs and seventeen concerning the two parties. The latter will be transmitted tomorrow by the Military and Political Department. Please prepare an official letter to hand to Wang and Zhang.[3]

(1) Since Wang and Zhang have repeatedly requested our side to propose specific opinions.

(2) To preserve their dignity, do not publish the full text of the negotiations externally for the time being. However, when it becomes clear that their side has no sincerity whatsoever, be prepared to release it to the public.

(3) To avoid provocation, the restoration of the New Fourth Army designation and the figure of 58% in anti-Japanese efforts, as pointed out by Wang and Zhang, have not been raised.

(4) The Lin Biao case[4] has already been vetoed by He Yingqin.[5] Circumstances have changed greatly over the past year, so a new proposal must be put forward.

(5) The army must not be fewer than five armies comprising sixteen divisions. Comrade Xu Xiangqian[6] must command one of these armies. The Border Region must be organized into one division. The previous Lin Biao proposal of four armies and twelve divisions is no longer applicable. Furthermore, our entire force of 470,000 troops is willing to submit to government command and should be organized into sixteen armies of forty-seven divisions. This point must also be raised.

(6) The Border Region should be formally named the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region, to correspond with reality. It may establish administrative offices. Personnel shall be elected by the people and appointed by the government, coming directly under the Executive Yuan. Other regions shall follow this model.

(7) The government should be asked to permit the Border Region and all base areas behind enemy lines to issue local paper currency. This point must be insisted upon (or, alternatively, not raised).

(8) The democratic institutions in the Border Region and various areas behind enemy lines cannot be altered.

(9) If their side recognizes the right of the CPC to establish party organizations and newspapers throughout the country, then our side can reciprocate by recognizing their right to do the same in our party's regions.

(10) For the remainder, negotiate according to the spirit of the twenty articles. Drafts are to be submitted to us for review first.

(11) Demand that their side negotiate and finalize the "Proposed Case" and then deliver the formal Proposed Case to us. If prior consultation is not conducted to finalize the content and wording, then it constitutes their unilateral opinion, and our side will bear no responsibility for its implementation.

Mao Zedong
Shan Hai (15th, 21:00-23:00)

Based on the manuscript published.

II

Comrades Chairman Lin and Boqu:

Your telegrams of the 10th and 12th have been received.

Please submit the following document to Wang Shijie and Zhang Zhizhong and conduct negotiations with them. The full text is as follows:

"To overcome the current difficulties, repel the attacks of the Japanese invaders, and earnestly prepare for a counteroffensive, the Chinese Communist Party believes there is only one path: implementing democracy and strengthening unity. To this end, the CPC hopes the government will resolve certain urgent issues. These issues, some concerning national politics and some concerning outstanding cases between the two parties, are hereby frankly enumerated as follows:

A. Concerning National Politics:
(1) Request the government to implement democratic politics and freedoms of speech, publication, assembly, association, and person.
(2) Request the government to lift the ban on political parties, recognize the legal status of the CPC and all patriotic parties, and release patriotic political prisoners.
(3) Request the government to permit the implementation of genuine local self-government by the people.

B. Concerning Outstanding Cases Between the Two Parties:
(1) Based on the needs of the War of Resistance, their military achievements, and the actual number of existing troops, request the government to reorganize the CPC forces into sixteen armies of forty-seven divisions, each division comprising ten thousand men. For the sake of compromise, at least five armies of sixteen divisions should be granted for the time being.
(2) Request the government to recognize the democratically elected anti-Japanese governments in the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region and the anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines in North, Central, and South China as legal local governments, and to recognize their various measures necessary for the War of Resistance.
(3) The defense areas of the CPC forces shall be maintained as they are during the War of Resistance, and separately negotiated after its conclusion.
(4) Request the government to provide full material support to the 18th Group Army and the New Fourth Army. Since 1940, the government has not provided a single bullet, a single pill, a single coin, or a single grain of rice in aid. This situation must be changed.
(5) Request the government to ensure the fair distribution of weapons, ammunition, medicine, and funds provided by the Allied Nations[8] to all Chinese armies; the 18th Group Army and the New Fourth Army should receive their due share.
(6) Request the government to order its military and administrative organs to lift the military and economic blockades against the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region and the various anti-Japanese base areas.
(7) Request the government to order its military organs to cease military attacks against the New Fourth Army in Central China and the guerrilla forces in Guangdong.
(8) Request the government to issue orders abolishing slanderous and insulting labels such as 'traitorous party,' 'traitorous army,' and 'traitorous region' directed against the Communist Party, the 18th Group Army, the New Fourth Army, and the anti-Japanese democratic regions. These slanders and insults, previously circulated covertly, have recently appeared openly in newspapers.
(9) Request the government to halt the disruptive activities of its special agents against the Communist Party, the 18th Group Army, the New Fourth Army, and the anti-Japanese democratic regions. Such activities are intensifying, and the CPC holds ample evidence. If not stopped, they will cause severe and significant harm to unity.
(10) Request the government to order party and government organs to release personnel arrested in various places, such as General Ye Ting and other officers and soldiers of the New Fourth Army captured during the Southern Anhui Incident; Liao Chengzhi, Zhang Wenbin, and others in Guangdong; Xu Jie,[9] Xu Mengqiu, Mao Zemin, Yang Zhihua, Pan Tong, and others in Xinjiang; Luo Shiwen, Che Yaoxian, Li Chun, Zhang Shaoming, and others in Sichuan; He Bin and others in Hubei; Liu Ying and others in Zhejiang; and Xuan Xiafu, Shi Zuoxiang, Li Yuhai, Chen Yuanying, Zhao Xiang, and others in Xi'an. All these individuals are patriotic citizens; please restore their freedom to facilitate the War of Resistance.
(11) Request the government to prohibit the publication of rumors and slander against the CPC in newspapers and periodicals. For example, special agents in Xi'an claimed that Wang Shiwei and dozens of others were executed by firing squad in Yan'an, even going so far as to impersonate friends and relatives of Wang Shiwei and others to hold a large memorial service in Xi'an on March 29, and publishing memorial notices and news reports in newspapers. In reality, the alleged execution of Wang Shiwei and others never occurred. Such completely fabricated and malicious slander should be ordered corrected, and a cessation of similar incidents must be ensured.
(12) Furthermore, based on reliable intelligence, special agent organs in the Xi'an area are preparing to send various impersonators along the route and fabricate various credentials to lodge complaints with foreigners when the foreign press delegation visits the Northwest, with the aim of damaging the CPC's reputation. We hear they have concocted more than ten items of alleged crimes by the CPC. Such behavior not only hinders unity but also disgraces the nation. The government is requested to prohibit it. The CPC holds ample evidence of their impersonations, fabrications, orchestration, directives, and organizational activities. If not stopped, unpleasant consequences may follow.
(13) Request the government to allow the CPC to establish party organizations and newspapers throughout the country; the CPC will also allow the Kuomintang to establish party organizations and newspapers in the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region and the anti-Japanese democratic regions behind enemy lines.
(14) Request the government to cease the unwarranted censorship of the CPC's *Xinhua Daily* in Chongqing (such as banning publication of news concerning military operations of the 18th Group Army and the New Fourth Army, banning CPC documents, etc.), disruption of its distribution, intimidation of subscribers, and detention of its mailed copies.
(15) Request the government to return the 101 cases of medicine, provided by Britain and the United States to aid the 18th Group Army, which were detained by government troops at Sanyuan.
(16) Request the government to permit the restoration of radio stations in Chongqing and Xi'an to facilitate communications.
(17) Request the government to permit CPC representatives and personnel of the 18th Group Army liaison offices the freedom to travel between Chongqing and Yan'an, and between Xi'an and Yan'an, and allow personnel of the Xi'an and Chongqing liaison offices the freedom to reside and purchase daily necessities in those two locations."

For the above articles, please sign using your title as representative of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, write down the year, month, and day, and formally hand the document in writing to Wang and Zhang.

Mao Zedong
Chen Shan (May 15)

Published based on a copy held in the Central Archives.

**Notes**
[1] Biwu, i.e., Dong Biwu, then serving as Deputy Secretary of the Southern Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and concurrently Head of its Propaganda Department and United Front Work Department.
[2] Boqu, i.e., Lin Boqu, then a member of the CPC Central Committee, Chairman of the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region Government. During the War of Resistance against Japan, he served as the CPC's representative for negotiations with the Kuomintang and was at this time conducting negotiations in Chongqing.
[3] Wang, refers to Wang Shijie (1891–1981), a native of Chongyang, Hubei, then Minister of the Kuomintang Central Propaganda Department. Zhang, refers to Zhang Zhizhong, then Minister of the Political Department of the National Government's Military Affairs Commission. At this time, they were the Kuomintang representatives participating in the KMT-CPC negotiations.
[4] From October 1942 to June 1943, Lin Biao was dispatched by the CPC Central Committee to Chongqing to negotiate with the Kuomintang. Based on Central Committee instructions, Lin Biao proposed four points to the Kuomintang: (1) On the condition of legalizing the CPC, the KMT would be allowed to establish party organizations in the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region and the anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines; (2) The Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army be reorganized into four armies of twelve divisions; (3) The Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region be changed into an administrative district, with personnel and territory unchanged; (4) The forces of the Eighth Route Army and New Fourth Army south of the Yellow River be moved northward after the victory of the War of Resistance.
[5] He Yingqin (1890–1987), a native of Xingyi, Guizhou. Then serving as Chief of the General Staff of the National Government's Military Affairs Commission and concurrently Minister of War.
[6] Xu Xiangqian (1901–1990), a native of Wutai, Shanxi. Then Deputy Commander of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army and President of the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University.
[7] *Refers to the National Government's Proposed Case for the Political Resolution of the CPC Problem.* On June 5, 1944, KMT representatives Wang Shijie and Zhang Zhizhong handed this Proposed Case in person to CPC representative Lin Boqu. Its main content was: The forces led by the CPC could only have ten divisions, the remaining troops must be disbanded within a set timeframe; these ten divisions must be concentrated in designated areas; all governments of anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines must be handed over completely to the Chongqing government for 'takeover.'
[8] Allied Nations, refers to the countries such as China, the Soviet Union, the United States, Britain, and France that jointly fought against the Axis powers (Germany, Italy, Japan) during the Second World War.
[9] Xu Jie was the alias of Chen Tanqiu.