Assessment by an Authoritative Personage in Yan’an on the Issue of Convening the National Assembly

(November 16, 1945)

[Xinhua News Agency, Yan’an, 16th] According to dispatches from Reuters and the U.S. Office of War Information, the National Government announced on the 12th of this month that the National Assembly will be convened on May 5th next year. Apart from this brief report, no more detailed information has been received here. However, the Yan’an side attaches great importance to this news, regarding it as yet another betrayal by the Kuomintang and the National Government of the October 10th Agreement. The full text of the item on the National Assembly in the *Summary of Talks Between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party* published on the 12th of last month reads as follows: “3. On the question of the National Assembly, the Chinese Communist Party side proposed three propositions: re-election of the delegates to the National Assembly, postponement of the date for convening the National Assembly, and revision of the Organic Law of the National Assembly, the Election Law, and the May 5th Draft Constitution. The Government side expressed that the already elected delegates to the National Assembly should remain valid, with their number to be reasonably increased and legally resolved, and that the May 5th Draft Constitution had originally been submitted for study and discussion by various circles to contribute suggestions for revision. Therefore, the two sides failed to reach an agreement. However, the Chinese Communist Party side declared: The Chinese Communist Party is unwilling to see unity ruptured because of disputes over this issue. At the same time, both sides agreed to refer this issue to the Political Consultative Conference for resolution.” The *Summary* also stipulates that “consultation on state affairs, discussion of the program for peaceful national reconstruction, and the various issues concerning the convening of the National Assembly” are the main topics for the Political Consultative Conference. Barely a month after the publication of the *Summary*, and while the Political Consultative Conference has yet to convene, the National Government has, through unilateral action, announced the date of the National Assembly. This act fully demonstrates that the Kuomintang side lacks sincerity in resolving any major current domestic political issues through political channels and consultation among various parties and groups at a conference. This act also reveals that the National Government has now made up its mind to rupture domestic unity and carry out large-scale civil war. The same authoritative quarters indicate that whether the Political Consultative Conference, one of whose central topics was originally the discussion of various issues concerning the National Assembly, still holds any significance after such a willful and unilateral action by the National Government is highly questionable. Moreover, even if the Consultative Conference were to meet, who could guarantee that the Kuomintang will not again go back on its word and tear up the conference’s agreements in the future?