Reply to Hurley’s Telegram[1]

(December 22, 1944)

At present, we believe that the National Government still lacks the sincerity to conduct negotiations based on the five-point policy we have proposed, and General Zhou Enlai, owing to the need to prepare for a certain conference, finds it difficult to get away for the time being. Therefore, we propose that you first send Colonel Barrett to Yan’an for a discussion.

[1] On December 21, Hurley sent a telegram expressing the hope that Zhou Enlai would go to Chongqing again for talks. This is the main content of Mao Zedong’s telegram in reply to Hurley.