Reply to Lin Boqu and Dong Biwu[1]

(July 2, 1944)

Your telegram of the 30th received. The proposed case, the letter from Zhang and Wang, and your Qiao[2] telegram (received only on the 30th) have all been received. Since this is the case, we may accept the proposed case[3] and prepare to put forward a counter-proposal. Zhou Enlai already issued a statement on the 1st. Therefore, the issue now is no longer one of returning it, but of studying the counter-proposal. Our Party has repeatedly sent high-level representatives to Chongqing for negotiations, and we have ample reason to invite Zhang and Wang to come to Yan’an for consultations. If both cannot come, then let one come. If both are unwilling to come, then Lin shall return to Yan’an accompanied by U.S. military personnel, so that the Central Committee can hear a detailed report and study the counter-proposal. If the foreign aircraft cannot accommodate them, then return to Yan’an by vehicle. In addition, request Dong to show the original texts of both sides’ proposals to friends from the minor parties during informal talks for their perusal, but do not publish them.

[1] This is the main content of Mao Zedong’s reply to Lin Boqu and Dong Biwu.
[2] Qiao, i.e., the 18th.
[3] Before learning of the letter from Zhang Zhizhong and Wang Shijie to Lin Boqu dated June 15, and in view of the fact that Zhang and Wang had stated to Lin Boqu on June 5 that they could not forward the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China’s opinion statement to the Nationalist Government, Mao Zedong had on June 17 telegraphed instructions to Lin Boqu to return the Nationalist Government’s proposed case to Zhang and Wang.