Eight Principled Opinions Raised for the Negotiations Between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party¹

(September 2, 1945)

1. When the negotiations between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party yield results, a political conference with the participation of representatives from all parties, groups, and personages without party affiliation should be convened;

2. On the question of the National Assembly, if the Kuomintang insists that the old representatives remain valid, the Communist Party will be unable to reach an agreement with the Kuomintang;

3. The people should be granted the freedoms that the people in ordinary democratic countries enjoy in peacetime, and existing laws and decrees shall be abrogated or amended in accordance with this principle;

4. All parties and groups should be accorded legal status;

5. All political prisoners should be released, and this should be included in a joint statement;

6. The popularly elected governments in the Liberated Areas and in all recovered areas should be recognized;

7. The Communist Party’s army shall be reorganized into forty-eight divisions, and a field headquarters and a political committee shall be established in Beiping, placed under the direction of a Communist Party general, with responsibility for commanding the troops in Shandong, Jiangsu, Hebei, Chahar, Rehe, Suiyuan, and other places;

8. The Communist Party should participate in accepting the surrender by zones.

¹ On the morning of September 2, Mao Zedong invited Wang Shijie to Guiyuan for discussions, with Zhou Enlai and Wang Ruofei present. These are the eight principled opinions Mao Zedong raised for the negotiations between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party during the course of the discussions.

A group photo of Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek during the Chongqing negotiations.

A group photo of Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek during the Chongqing negotiations.

A group photo of Mao Zedong, Hurley, and Chiang Kai-shek during the Chongqing negotiations.