Question: What is the current situation in Northeast China?  Answer: Since the Soviet Red Army entered Northeast China and eliminated the Japanese puppet forces, sovereignty over this territory has been restored to our country. The Nationalist government has also dispatched troops and officials to take over. For fourteen years, this region was a source of national shame. Historically, Northeast China has been our nation’s richest in resources and most developed industrially and mining-wise. However, under fourteen years of brutal enemy occupation, people’s lives are now extremely difficult, and industry, commerce, and finance have largely come to a standstill or fallen into chaos due to the war. Therefore, the paramount demand of the people of Northeast China today is to thoroughly purge the remnants of the former puppet regime, establish a peaceful and stable life on the basis of broad democratic principles, and restore and develop economic construction. The central key to resolving these issues lies in how the Nationalist forces and administrative personnel sent to the region, in accordance with the principles of the Armistice Agreement and the Program for Peaceful Nation-Building, can engage in peaceful, democratic cooperation with local notables, local armed forces, the Eighth Route Army, and the democratically elected local governments throughout Northeast China.

Question: What military forces are currently present in various parts of Northeast China, and what is the state of local governance?  Answer: Northeast China has long boasted the strongest civilian militias in the entire country. Following the entry of the Soviet forces last August, people everywhere rose up in arms to eliminate the puppet authorities. Units and cadres that had been preserved from the Anti-Japanese United Army were particularly active at this time and expanded very rapidly. Under the command of Zhou Zhong, a former leader of the Anti-Japanese United Army, several tens of thousands of troops were deployed across Eastern and Northern Manchuria, forming detachments such as the Yang Jingyu Detachment and the Zhao Shangzhi Detachment. During the Eight-Year War of Resistance, many Eighth Route Army soldiers who had been captured by the enemy and imprisoned in Northeast China, along with local guerrilla fighters and militia members, were numerous. Upon gaining their freedom, they too actively joined the effort to eradicate the puppet forces. Meanwhile, units commanded by Northeastern generals of the Eighth Route Army—such as Zhang Xueshi, Lü Zhengcao, and Wan Yi—as well as elements of the New Fourth Army that were ordered to Northeast China to destroy the puppet regime, had all forged close ties with the local population during the war. General Li Yunchang’s forces, originally based in the Jehol–Rehe–Liaoning border area, operated primarily in western Liaoning. Under the leadership of these anti-Japanese armed groups, the people of Northeast China have now formed the Northeast Democratic United Army, numbering nearly three hundred thousand men, spread across regions of Eastern, Southern, Western, and Northern Manchuria where Soviet troops are either absent or have withdrawn. In addition, local security forces and police are working together to root out remaining puppet elements and maintain local order. After the elimination of the puppet regime, local residents, guided by the principle of self-governance, have elected impartial representatives to establish county-level democratic governments responsible for local administration. Among the leaders of these forces and local governments, aside from various democratic figures from Northeast China, there are also many Communist Party members, both native to the region and from elsewhere. However, because our Party’s leading organs in Northeast China had long been destroyed by the puppet authorities, the activities of these party members were initially not fully coordinated. It was only after comrades Peng Zhen, Chen Yun, Lin Feng, Lin Biao, and Luo Ronghuan were dispatched by the CPC Central Committee to establish the Party’s supreme leadership body in Northeast China that the Party organizations and the actions of Party members throughout the region were brought into line and unified. Today, wherever Communist Party members are active, order has either been stabilized or is being stabilized. Bandits have been gradually eradicated, commerce and industry are slowly recovering, and collaborators with the enemy are being prosecuted. Through their struggle against Japanese aggression and collaboration, seeking accountability and retribution from traitors, the people have experienced a significant awakening of political consciousness and an improvement in their living standards, marking a promising start. Nevertheless, in some remote areas, bandit gangs and remnants of the puppet army continue to cause trouble. Certain ambitious Japanese elements are exploiting these groups in an attempt to undermine peace and democracy in Northeast China and preserve their own aggressive interests. The local population deeply resents this, and hopes that the Democratic United Army will swiftly move in to suppress them, so that their fellow compatriots can live in peace and prosperity.

Question: What are the CPC’s propositions regarding the future of Northeast China?  Answer: The CPC’s position on Northeast China is the same as its stance on the whole country: it can be summarized in eight characters—peace, democracy, unity, and construction. The CPC has never opposed the Nationalist government sending representatives to assume sovereignty over Northeast China and deploying a contingent of troops to maintain public order there. This was clearly stated in a speech by Commander-in-Chief Zhu De on November 18 last year, and was formally reaffirmed in the joint ceasefire order issued by the two parties on January 10 of this year, which stipulated that Nationalist forces entering Northeast China to restore Chinese sovereignty would not be subject to the general ban on military movements. However, to achieve peace, democracy, and united development in Northeast China, we believe the following principles should be established: (1) The current institutions through which the Nationalist government is taking over Northeast China are dominated solely by the Kuomintang, which does not reflect the will of the people of Northeast China or the nation as a whole. Therefore, the Field Headquarters and its Political and Economic Committees, as well as the provincial governments, should all be reorganized to include as many democratic figures from Northeast China and non-Party representatives from across the country as possible, ensuring that all democratic elements have fair and effective representation; (2) The existing anti-Japanese democratic forces in Northeast China should be officially recognized and incorporated into the regular military, so that together with the Nationalist troops they can maintain local law and order, eliminate puppet and bandit elements, and prevent military conflict; (3) The democratically elected autonomous governments at the county level throughout Northeast China should be acknowledged. If their electoral base is deemed insufficiently broad, steps should be taken to revise their composition through consultation or to hold new elections, rather than simply refusing to recognize them or insisting on undemocratic methods imposed from above in opposition to popular, democratic elections; (4) Given the current friendship between China and the Soviet Union, the ongoing ceasefire between the CPC and the KMT, the nationwide call for demobilization and disarmament, and the fact that local forces are already helping to maintain order in Northeast China, the number of Nationalist troops entering the region to restore sovereignty should be limited to a reasonable level—to ease the burden on the populace and promote peace. Moreover, any attempts to incorporate the puppet army into the Nationalist ranks or to use puppet units from North China (such as Jiang Pengfei’s New 27th Army) to seize control of Northeast China must be prohibited.

Question: Can the aforementioned CPC policy be implemented, and what is the government’s response?  Answer: We believe that, given the current international and domestic situation and the demands of the people of Northeast China, this policy is the only correct and viable approach for the region. Any alternative course would inevitably be wrong and unworkable. If the democratic figures and Communist Party members of Northeast China fail to acknowledge the legitimate status of the Kuomintang and refuse to cooperate sincerely with it to advance peace, democracy, and unified development in the region, they would be making a grave mistake. Similarly, if the Kuomintang side does not recognize the democratic forces and the role of the Communist Party in Northeast China and refuses to engage in sincere cooperation with them to achieve these goals, it too would be committing a serious error. In the past, the Kuomintang pursued a policy of resolving the Northeast issue by force, a course that we have consistently opposed. However, in order to reach a peaceful resolution of the entire Northeast question, the CPC-led forces have made numerous concessions on the military front—concessions that are widely known around the world. Yet experience has shown that unilateral retreats alone are clearly insufficient to sustain peace. Consequently, even after January 10, Nationalist forces continued to attempt to seize Yingkou and Panshan, and despite the formal issuance of the ceasefire order, clashes persisted. If the Kuomintang persists in this policy of force, similar tragic incidents could well recur under further attacks by Nationalist troops. Recently, the Chongqing Tripartite Commission proposed dispatching an executive committee to mediate the dispute. In pursuit of a nationwide ceasefire, we support this proposal and believe the government should not reject it. On the political front, the Political Consultative Conference has already reached agreements to resolve contentious issues concerning local governance through democratic means, and we believe these principles should first be applied to Northeast China. In short, given Northeast China’s crucial national importance and the complexity of its situation, if the relevant parties fail to reach a comprehensive agreement and allow military conflict to erupt, it would be a profound betrayal of the people of Northeast China, who have endured fourteen years of devastation and long for peace and democracy, as well as of the entire nation, which seeks a peaceful resolution to the Northeast question. The CPC is currently calling for negotiations with the government, hoping that the latter will act in the spirit of the Armistice Agreement and the Political Consultative Conference, so that these talks can proceed swiftly and yield a satisfactory outcome.