[Xinhua News Agency, Yan’an, the 16th] A Xinhua reporter asked a leading official of the CPC Central Committee whether any representatives from the Communist Party would attend the new National Political Consultative Conference to be convened by the Kuomintang government on July 7. The official replied as follows: The so-called National Political Consultative Conference scheduled for July 7 this year by the Kuomintang government will not be attended by any members of the Communist Party.


The reasons are as follows: (1) Since last September, the CPC, together with the China Democratic League and other broad democratic circles, has consistently urged the Kuomintang government to promptly abolish one-party dictatorship, convene a conference of all political parties and non-affiliated prominent figures, establish a democratic interim coalition government, promulgate a democratic program, and implement democratic reforms. This is intended to mobilize and unite the Chinese people’s anti-Japanese forces, thereby effectively coordinating with the Allied Powers [2] in defeating the Japanese aggressors; and, on this basis, once all national territory has been liberated, to hold free and untrammeled general elections under democratic principles, convene a National Assembly, draft a constitution, and elect a regular government. This proposal reflects the common will of the vast majority of the Chinese people. However, after several rounds of negotiations between representatives of our Party and those of the Kuomintang government, it has been rejected by the latter.

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As for even the most basic conditions necessary for restoring unity and establishing a coalition government—such as rescinding laws that suppress the people’s freedoms, abolishing secret police agencies, releasing arrested Communists and all patriotic persons, recognizing the legal status of the CPC and other democratic parties, acknowledging the Chinese Liberated Areas, and withdrawing troops encircling or attacking these areas—the Kuomintang government has not only refused to implement any of them but has instead intensified its reactionary measures aimed at undermining unity and sabotaging the War of Resistance. (2) In calling this so-called new National Political Consultative Conference, the Kuomintang authorities neither consulted our Party nor any other democratic parties in advance. As in the past, the entire affair remains entirely in the hands of the Kuomintang. Under the Kuomintang government’s own regulations, the CPC and other democratic parties still do not enjoy legal status. Even the delegates representing the CPC were appointed by the Kuomintang authorities rather than being elected by the CPC itself. Meanwhile, the anti-Japanese forces led by the CPC have now become the central force in defeating the national enemy and liberating the Chinese people. The Kuomintang government’s treatment of the CPC not only violates democratic principles but also fails to accord with the Party’s actual standing in the War of Resistance. (3) Most importantly, the Sixth National Congress of the Kuomintang, disregarding the unanimous opposition of the Chinese people, the CPC, and other democratic parties, has stubbornly decided to convene on November 12 this year a so-called National Assembly—a body wholly controlled by the Kuomintang, divisive to the people, and preparatory to civil war. Moreover, at the forthcoming session of the National Political Consultative Conference, the Kuomintang intends to forcibly pass a series of specific measures designed to implement its reactionary resolutions. Should this occur, it would constitute a grave error, triggering a large-scale civil war that would be anti-national, anti-people, and anti-democratic. Clearly, the sole result would be to aid the Japanese aggressors. For all these reasons, the CPC has decided not to participate in this session of the National Political Consultative Conference as a form of protest.

Published in the June 17, 1945 issue of the Liberation Daily. Notes [1] This is a reply to questions from reporters drafted by Mao Zedong for Xinhua News Agency and published in the June 17, 1945 issue of the Liberation Daily. [2] The Allied Powers refer to China, the Soviet Union, the United States, Great Britain, France, and other nations that fought jointly against the Axis powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan during World War II.