ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY REUTER CORRESPONDENT CAMPBELL
Published by HSIN-HUA JIH-PAO, Chungking, 27 September 1945

[Text] Editor's Note: During the period of Chairman
Mao's visit to Chungking between 28 August and
11 October 1945 to attend the negotiations upon
invitation, British REUTER correspondent Mr Campbell
submitted 12 written questions, and Chairman Mao
answered them one by one. The original text was
published in the Chungking HSIN-HUA JIH-PAO on
27 September.

(1) Question: Is it possible to avoid a civil war by means of an agreement
instead of by force?

Answer: It is possible, because it will be compatible with the interests
of the Chinese people and of China's party in power. Currently, China
only needs the policy of peaceful national reconstruction and nothing else;
therefore, a civil war must be firmly avoided.

(2) Question: What concessions are the Chinese Communist Party ready to
make in order to reach an agreement?

Answer: On the condition of realizing national peace, democracy, and unity,
the Chinese Communist Party is ready to make important concessions, including
reducing the liberated areas and the troops.

(3) Question: What compromises or concessions must the Central Government
make before it can satisfy the Chinese Communist Party?

Answer: The views of the Chinese Communist Party were expressed in the
recent declaration of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee. It
requests that the Kuomintang government recognize the government of the
liberated areas elected by the people and the people's army, permit them
to participate in accepting Japan's surrender, severely punish the traitors
and puppet troops, reorganize the troops fairly and rationally, protect
the people's freedoms and rights, and form a democratic coalition government.

(4) Question: Are you hopeful that the negotiations will produce an agreement, or even a temporary agreement?

Answer: I have full confidence in the results of the negotiations, feeling
that, with the common effort and mutual compromise of the Kuomintang and
the Communist Party, the negotiations will produce not just a temporary
agreement but one which will guarantee a long-term peaceful reconstruction.

(5) Question: If the negotiations should break down, would it be possible
to solve the Kuomintang-Communist Party issue without bloodshed?

Answer: I don't believe the negotiations will break down. In any situation
the Chinese Communist Party will adhere to the policy of avoiding a civil
war. There may be difficulties, but it is possible to overcome them.

(6) Question: What is the attitude of the Communist Party toward the
Sino-Soviet treaty?

Answer: We fully support the Sino-Soviet treaty and hope for its early
realization, because it will benefit the people of the two nations and world
peace, especially peace in the Far East.

(7) Question: After Japan's surrender, do you plan to continue occupying
the areas you now occupy?

Answer: The Communist Party requests that the Central Government recognize
the government of the liberated areas elected by the people and the people's
troops. It is only asking the government to introduce local self-government
long promised by the Kuomintang in order to safeguard the local democratic
reforms in the political, military, economic and educational spheres carried
out by the people during the war. All the reforms are compatible with the
ideals of Dr Sun Yat-sen, the creator of the Kuomintang.

(8) Question: If a coalition government is formed, to what extent are you
prepared to cooperate with Chiang Kai-shek?

Answer: If a coalition government is formed, the Communist Party will do
its utmost to cooperate with Chairman Chiang in order to build an independent,
free, and powerful new China and thoroughly implement Dr Sun Yat-sen's
three principles of democracy.

(9) Question: (i) How many Communist Party members in North China will be
influenced by your action and decision? (ii) How many of them are armed?
(iii) In what other areas are Chinese Communist Party members active?

Answer: The policy for Communist Party members is decided by the party's
Central Committee. The Chinese Communist Party now has over 1.2 million
members, and the number of people who have acquired a democratic life under
the party's leadership far exceeds 100 million. According to the principle

of spontaneity, they have organized over 1.2 million troops and over 2.2 million militia. Besides the North China provinces and the Shensi-Kansu-
Ninghsia Border Region in the Northwest, they are distributed in Kiangsu,
Anhwei, Chekiang, Fukien, Honan, Hupeh, Hunan and Kwangtung. Chinese
Communist Party members are distributed throughout all provinces in the
nation,

(10) What are the concept and definition of a free and democratic China
according to the Chinese Communist Party?

Answer: A free and democratic China will be this kind of nation: All
levels of government, including the central government, are created by
general and equal secret balloting and are responsible to the people who
elected them. It will implement Dr Sun Yat-sen's three principles of
democracy, Lincoln's principle of "of the people, by the people, and for
the people," and Roosevelt's Atlantic Charter. It will assure the independence and unity of the nation and cooperate with all democratic powers.

(11) Question: In the coalition government of all parties and factions,
what are the reconstruction and recovery policies of the Chinese Communist
Party?

Answer: Besides the democratic reform of military affairs and politics,
the Chinese Communist Party will propose to the government the introduction
of an economic and cultural construction program. The goal of the program
is mainly to reduce the people's burden, improve the people's life, implement land reform and industrialization, encourage private enterprise (except
those units of a monopolistic nature which must be operated by the democratic
government), welcome foreign investment and develop international trade
under the principle of equality and mutual benefit, popularize mass education, and wipe out illiteracy. All these are compatible with Dr Sun Yat-sen's
instructions.

(12) Question: Do you support nationalizing the troops and abolishing private forces?

Answer: We fully support nationalizing the troops and abolishing private
forces, and the common prerequisite of the two matters is democratization
of the state. What is commonly known as the "Communist Party army" has
actually been voluntarily organized by the Chinese people during the war,
and its only duty is to defend the nation. It is a new-model army, completely different from the old-type troops of the past in China belonging
to private individuals. Its democratic essence will furnish valuable
experience for the true nationalization of China's troops and serve as a
reference for the improvement of its other military units.

° "Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung," Vol 3, 1947 edition.

* CHIEH-FANG JIH-PAO, 8 October 1945.

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

A HSIN-HUA JIH-PAO, 27 September 1945.