YENAN AUTHORITIES COMMENT ON KUOMINTANG PARTY AND GOVERNMENT PERSONNEL
RESHUFFLE

22 November 1944

[Text] HSIN-HUA NEWS AGENCY, Yenan, 22 November--Authorities here commented
on the partial reshuffle of party and government personnel by the Kuomintang
Central:

After the fall of Kweilin and Liuchou, the Japanese bandits continued to
sneak up on the Yunnan border, and the military crisis on the forward battlefront mounted, while the political and economic crises also intensified with
the military setbacks. Public opinion among the broad masses within the
country and among our Allies constantly criticized severely the erroneous
policies of the Kuomintang and unanimously demanded a complete reorganization
of the government and the high command and the formation of a coalition
government and a coalition high command to include all resist-Japan parties
and factions and troops as a starting point to save the dangerous situation,
reinforce the resistance war, and strive for victory. The partial personnel
reshuffle by the Kuomintang authorities this time was a reflection of the
aggravation of the crisis of its regime. Today the Kuomintang authorities
could not but consider the anger of the people throughout the nation and
the censure of public opinion of the allied nations, and they replaced
Ho Ying-ch'in, K'ung Hsiang-hsi, and Ch'en Li-fu, the targets of public
attack, in order to allay the criticism from all sides. Nevertheless, when
the situation is so critical, the Kuomintang authorities still cannot decide
on a thorough reform, but wish to maintain the oligarchy of one-party dictatorship. Therefore, the reshuffle can only be superficial, not thorough,
and it can only serve as a temporary measure of appeasement. Though stripped
of their functions as the ministers of military administration, finance
and education, Ho, K'ung and Ch'en still occupy crucial positions in the
Kuomintang central party, government and military structures: Ho Ying-ch'in
remains as chief of staff of the high command and holds great power over the
army; K'ung Hsiang-hsi still serves as assistant chief of the Executive Yuan,
and his influence on the finance ministry persists; Ch'en Li-fu has been
transferred to serve as minister of the Kuomintang Central Organization
Ministry and retains his control over the gigantic party affairs structure

of the Kuomintang. Their successors are still limited to the rightwing clique
of the Kuomintang. Not only has no one from any party or faction other than
the Kuomintang joined the government, but even the more liberal elements in
the party, such as Sun K'o and Sung Tzu-wen, have not increased their influence in the government. Thus, the personnel reshuffle was merely a
shifting of functions within the ruling clique of the Kuomintang, and it
will not truly help overcome the current serious crises. There is only one
way to overcome the ever aggravating military, political, financial and
economic crises, strengthen the resistance war and attain victory, and it is
by thoroughly reorganizing the government and the high command as long
advocated by the Chinese Communist Party and the people of China, purging
all antidemocratic elements, defeatists and fascists, recruiting those who
can truly represent the people's interests from the various parties and
factions and the military units, organizing a coalition government and a
coalition high command, and thoroughly changing the government policies in
all aspects. Only thus will the crises in the rear be averted. However,
it is regrettable that the Kuomintang authorities have not reached a decision even today. Apparently, the government personnel reshuffle this time
is still 100,000 li away from the demand of the people of the entire nation.
If the Kuomintang authorities continue to procrastinate and refuse to follow
the correct path pointed out by the people, then the crises will only
intensify day by day until they become irremediable. It is a very clear
tendency. Either permitting the crises to develop to an irremediable stage
or thoroughly changing the erroneous policies are the two directions confronting the Kuomintang, and the choice is up to it.
CHIEH-FANG JIH-PAO, 23 November 1944.