Mao Zedong’s Comments on the Talks
between the Two Parties
(September 2, 1945)
I. The Chinese Communist Party’s version:
Eight comments of principle on the talks between the Guomindang and the
Communist Party
This morning (September 2), Chairman Mao invited Wang Shijie over to have
a talk at the Cassia Garden. Comrades Zhou Enlai and Wang Ruofei were present.
Chairman Mao put forth eight comments of principle on the talks between the
Guomindang and the Communist Party.
	 1.	 When a result has been achieved in the talks between the Communist Party
and the Guomindang, a political conference should be held with the participation of representatives from various political parties and unaffiliated
personages.
	 2.	 As regards the problem of the National Assembly, if the Guomindang insists
that the mandate of the old delegates is still valid, the Communist Party will
be unable to come to an agreement with the Guomindang on this.
	 3.	 The people should be granted the freedoms normally enjoyed by the people
in a democratic country. The laws currently in force should be annulled or
modified according to this principle.
	 4.	 The various political parties should be given legal status.
	 5.	 All political prisoners should be released, and this point should be included
in the joint statement.
	 6.	 The elected authorities in the Liberated Areas and the recovered areas must
be recognized.
	 7.	 The armies of the Chinese Communist Party should be reorganized into
forty-eight divisions, with their field headquarters and political committee established in Beiping and headed by Communist generals who will be
responsible for directing the armies in the regions of Shandong, Jiangsu,
Hebei, Chahar, Rehe, and Suiyuan.
	 8.	 The Communist Party should participate in accepting regional surrenders.
Afterwards, Comrade Zhou Enlai continued to hold discussions with Wang Shijie.
That evening, Chairman Mao Zedong had a talk with Chiang Kaishek at
Chiang’s official residence on the following subjects: the number of Communist
armies to be reorganized, the settlement of the armies, the Liberated Areas, the
political conference, and the old delegates of the National Assembly.
II. The Guomindang’s version:
Talk with Wang Shijie
The results of today’s talks: Because no written notes were made during the
talks, the following is Wang Shijie’s own record after the talks. During the talks,
Mao, Zhou [Enlai], and Wang [Ruofei] were all present, but Mr. Mao presided
over all the talks.
	 1.	 Regarding the problem of the political conference, Mao’s proposals were as
follows:
	a.
When the current talks between the two sides reach an agreement, the
government will exchange opinions informally with personages of
other political parties.
	b.
After the exchange of opinions, Chairman Chiang will invite a number
of personages of other political parties and groups and unaffiliated individuals (the numbers and identity of the participants can be decided by
Chairman Chiang) to hold a conference with the government and the
Communist representatives. The objective of this meeting is to endorse
the results of the talks between the government and the Communist
Party within an extremely short time. This meeting, which can be called
a political conference, need not meet very often. It can be convened in
the future as required.
	 2.	 Regarding the National Assembly, Mao’s views were as follows:
As for the National Assembly, if the government insists that the mandate
of the former delegates must remain valid, then the Communist side will not
be able to conclude an agreement with us, but the Communist Party may not
refuse to participate in the National Assembly for this reason.
	 3.	 Regarding freedom, Mr. Mao entirely agreed with the following words (I
note the gist):

“After the end of the Anti-Japanese War, as regards freedom of the person, and of belief, speech, publication, assembly, and association, we should
give the people the freedoms normally enjoyed by people in all democratic
countries. The laws and regulations currently in force should be abolished or
revised in accordance with this principle.”
	 4.	 Regarding political parties, Mr. Mao declared that the various political parties should be given legal status. He also said, however, that he does not
oppose making a law governing the forming of political associations, provided only that the right to form associations should not be restricted.
I (here and below, this refers to Wang Shijie) said that we should take
warning from the history of France regarding the proliferation of numerous
minor parties. He [Mao] said that the situation in China would not lend itself
to following the French path.
	 5.	 On the question of the release of political prisoners, Mr. Mao said that this
must be included in the joint statement.
I said that the government intended to deal with this matter on its own
accord, and I was afraid it will not be willing to include this item in the joint
statement. But I said he could submit to the government a list of those whom
he thought should be released.
	 6.	 With regard to the so-called “administration of the Liberated Areas,” I said
I feared that with regard to this matter, the government could at best make
a promise along the following lines: “As for former administrative personnel working in the recovered areas during the Anti-Japanese War (I did not
agree to use the term “Liberated Areas”), the government may allow some
of them to continue their service in local government, depending on their
abilities and achievements. They will not be discriminated against because
of their association with different political parties and factions.” Mr. Mao did
not object to the above opinion; he only continued to ask about the treatment
of locally elected groups in areas of this type. I said I feared that the system
could not be different.
	 7.	 As regards the Communist armies:
	a.
Mr. Mao said that the Communist armies should be reorganized into
forty-eight divisions.
I refused to discuss this matter, and I merely asked him to consider two
points: The number of twelve divisions had been decided by the central government before the army reduction, and in the last few months the central
government has cut its army by more than eighty divisions.
	b.
On the question of the command of the army:
Mr. Mao declared that it would be appropriate to place the Beiping Field
Headquarters in the hands of the Communist commanders, who under the
orders of Chairman Chiang would command the Communist armies in the
Shandong, Hebei, Rehe, Chahar, and Suiyuan regions.

I said that this was not feasible. But it would be possible to have Communist
commanders in the central government’s Military Commission.
	 8.	 Regarding acceptance of the Japanese surrender:
Finally, Mr. Mao said that although the Nanjing Surrender Acceptance Army cannot appoint additional Communist army personnel because of the limitations set
by the Allied powers, certain Communist commanders must be appointed to carry
out acceptance of the regional surrender in their respective areas.
--- Notes

Our source for these two versions of Mao Zedong’s comments is Mao Zedong ji.
Bujuan, Vol. 8, pp. 67–71, where it is reproduced from “Zhengfu daibiao Wang Shijie yu
Mao Zedong tanhua jilu,” in Zhonghua Minguo zhongyao shiliao chubian: Dui Ri kangzhan shiqi diqibian zhanhou Zhongguo (er) (Taipei: Zhongguo Guomindang zhongyang
weiyuanhui dangshi weiyuanhui, 1981).
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719511-31