Telegram to Dong Biwu and Wang Bingnan[1]

(January 24, 1947)

(1) Under the present circumstances, Dong should remain working in Shanghai for the time being and not return to Nanjing. (2) Wang should also refrain from visiting people on the American and Chiang Kai-shek sides and should treat them with indifference. (3) If people from the American and Chiang Kai-shek sides come again to press for a reply to the four conditions[2], they may be told that we fundamentally reject these four conditions and that negotiations cannot begin unless our two conditions[3] (as the minimum) are fully accepted.

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[1] This is the main content of a telegram drafted by Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai on behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to Dong Biwu and Wang Bingnan, with a copy to Ye Jianying. Dong Biwu was then director of the CPC office in Nanjing and was also responsible for the work of the CPC office in Shanghai. Wang Bingnan was then in charge of foreign affairs at the CPC office in Nanjing.

[2] The four conditions refer to the four terms proposed by Chiang Kai-shek on January 16, 1947, for resuming negotiations: (1) The National Government is willing to send a delegation to Yan’an or invite the Communist Party to send a delegation to Nanjing, or agree to hold a roundtable conference at any mutually acceptable location; (2) The Government and the Communist Party should immediately issue a ceasefire order and discuss the implementation of that order; (3) The Government is willing, based on the principles of the three-man group meetings, to re-discuss practical plans for reorganizing the armed forces and restoring communications; (4) The Government expresses its willingness to reach an immediate agreement with the Communist Party on the issue of political jurisdiction over disputed areas.

[3] The two conditions refer to the two terms proposed by the Communist Party of China for resuming negotiations: (1) Abolish the constitution adopted by the National Assembly convened in violation of the resolutions of the Political Consultative Conference; (2) Restore the military positions as they were when the ceasefire took effect on January 13, 1946.