SPEECH AT A POLITICAL COUNCIL TEA

18 September 1945

[Text] The members of the People's Political Council in Chungking gave a
tea on 18 September to welcome Comrade Mao Tse-tung. At the tea, Comrade
Mao Tse-tung made a statement, which briefly is as follows:

Today is the anniversary of 18 September, and first we must celebrate our
victory. After 8 years of resistance war, victory has finally arrived,
especially in the Northeast, which, after 14 years of enemy occupation
since the 18 September Incident, has now been successfully liberated. On
this day I feel doubly excited. I am most honored to be able to see you
gentlemen, my friends and my elders during this period. I recall the
extreme hardships during the resistance war. However, as a result of the
unanimous effort of the entire country, we have safely weathered them. I
am most grateful to Chairman Chiang for his invitation to come to Chungking
to discuss national affairs together. The future must be a new era of
peaceful development and national reconstruction, and we must unite and
firmly avoid a civil war. Any other policy would be wrong. Therefore,
all parties and factions must, under the above policy, unite as one and
thoroughly implement the three principles of democracy in order to build
a modern new China.

。 "Struggle for Peace," HSIN-HUA JIH-PAO, November 1945.