Xinhua News Agency Reporter Publishes
Commentary Exposing the Plot of War
Criminal Chiang Kaishek to Sue for Peace1
January 3,2 1949
(Xinhua News Agency, Shanbei Broadcast, January 3) On the issue of the war
criminal’s suing for peace, a Xinhua reporter has published the following
commentary:
To preserve the Chinese reactionary forces and the invading American forces
in China, China’s number-one war criminal, leader of the Nationalist Party gang
of bandits Chiang Kaishek on New Year’s Day of this year published a statement
suing for peace. War criminal Chiang Kaishek claims: “As long as the peace talks
do not harm the nation’s independence and integrity and contribute to the recovery of the people’s livelihood, as long as the sacred constitution is not violated by
me, the democratic constitutional government is not destroyed as a result, the
Republic of China’s state system can be sufficiently guaranteed, the Republic of
China’s legally constituted authority is not discontinued, the army has substantial
assurances, the people can maintain their free lifestyle and their current minimum
standard of living, then I myself do not have any other demands.” “As long as
peace can be realized, then my own advance or retreat will absolutely not occupy
my mind, and I will only follow the public will of the nation’s people.” The people must believe the war criminal seeking peace is rather farcical and must believe
this type of declaration seeking peace is truly detestable. It must be known that
when the number one-war criminal, leader of the Nationalist Party gang of bandits, appears personally to seek peace and publishes this type of declaration, there
is an obvious benefit to the Chinese people’s recognition of the schemes by the
Nationalist Party gang of bandits and the American imperialists. The Chinese
people can know from this: the so-called “peace” being clamored for now is
something that Chiang Kaishek’s horde of murderers and his American masters
urgently need. Chiang Kaishek confessed the whole plan of the gang of bandits.

This plan’s main points are as follows: “no harm to the nation’s independence and
integrity”—this is of first importance. “Peace” is possible, but “peace” that is
harmful to the “independence and integrity” of the nation of the four prominent
families and the comprador and landlord classes is absolutely impossible. “Peace”
that is harmful to friendly Sino-American trade and navigation treaties, SinoAmerican air transportation protocol, Sino-American bilateral agreements, and
other wonderful treaties, harmful to America’s stationing of its army, navy, and
air force in China, establishing military bases, exploiting minerals, monopolizing
trade, and other privileges, and harmful to China’s status as an American colony,3
is totally impossible. “Contributing to the recovery of people’s livelihood”—
“peace” must contribute to the recovery of the livelihood of the Chinese reactionary faction that is already defeated but is not yet eliminated, so that after it
recovers, it can make a comeback and stamp out the revolution. “Peace” is just for
this. After fighting for two and a half years, the running dogs have not run4 and the
Americans are angry, so recovering for even a little while is good. “The sacred
constitution is not violated by me, the democratic constitutional government is not
destroyed as a result, the Republic of China’s state system can be sufficiently
guaranteed, the Republic of China’s legally constituted authority is not discontinued”—guarantees the ruling position of the Chinese reactionary class and reactionary government and guarantees this class and this government’s “legally
constituted authority is not discontinued.” This “legally constituted authority”
absolutely must not be “discontinued,” for if it is “discontinued,” then it is very
dangerous: the entire comprador and landlord classes will be eliminated, the
Nationalist Party gang of bandits will become extinct, and all large, medium, and
small war criminals will be arrested and punished for their crimes. “The army has
substantial assurances”—this is the comprador and landlord classes’ lifeblood;
although millions have already been wiped out by the vile People’s Liberation
Army, now there are still more than one million left, so it is necessary to provide
“assurances” and also “substance.” If the “assurances” are not “substantial,” the
comprador and landlord classes will have no capital, the “legally constituted
authority” will be “discontinued,” the Nationalist Party gang of bandits will
become extinct, and all large, medium, and small war criminals will be arrested
and punished for their crimes. In Grand View Garden, Jia Baoyu’s lifeblood was
a piece of stone bound around his neck; the Nationalist Party’s lifeblood is its
army, so how can it be without “assurances,” or have “assurances” that are not
“substantial”? “The people can maintain their free lifestyle and their current minimum standard of living”—China’s comprador and landlord classes must maintain their freedom to exercise5 oppression and exploitation and present6 decadent
standard of living, China’s laborers must maintain their freedom to be oppressed
and exploited by the people and present7 starving and frozen standard of living.
This is the ultimate goal of the war criminal seeking peace. If the war criminals
and their classes cannot maintain their freedom to exercise oppression and exploitation and their decadent standard of living, what is the use of peace? To obtain
this, of course they will want to maintain for workers, peasants, intellectuals, government employees, and teachers this8 “free lifestyle and minimum standard of
living.” As soon as this condition was raised by our lovable President Chiang, tens
of millions of workers,9 hundreds of millions of peasants, and millions of intellectuals, teachers, and government employees simultaneously clapped their
hands,10 prostrated themselves in admiration, and wished him a long life. If the
Communist Party still does not permit peace,11 then it is guilty of a crime which
deserves ten thousand deaths, and “henceforth all responsibility should be borne
by the Communist Party.” The Xinhua News journalist said: All the aforementioned still does not include all the treasures in the war criminal’s declaration
seeking peace on January 1. Below is12 another treasure, Chiang Kaishek calls it
the “decisive battle of Beiping and Shanghai.”13 Chiang Kaishek says: “We must
know that today the government’s strength in any area—military, political, or
economic—surpasses that of the Communist Party severalfold and even maybe
tenfold.” Oh, my! How can such great strength not scare people to death? For the
moment, placing political and economic strength aside and not speaking of them,
and only speaking of military strength,14 the People’s Liberation Army now has
more than three million men. Two times15 this is more than six million men. Ten
times this is more than thirty million men. Then how many is “many tenfold”? For
the moment, calculating twenty times this would be more than sixty million men.
No wonder our President Chiang said he “has certainty of decisive victory.” Why
seek peace? It is not that they cannot fight completely, for if you take more than
sixty million men and fight, then how will the world still have any Communist

Party or any other party?16 Of course, they have all turned to dust. From this we
can see that seeking peace is not17 for any reason other than “pleading for the
people.” Could it be that everything is fine, and there is not any weak point?
Reportedly there are weak points. What weak points? President Chiang said:
“Now that which is regretted, on our government side18 is a portion of personnel
received the Communist Party’s malicious propaganda, and because of this they
have wavered inside, almost losing self-confidence. Because they received the
Communist Party’s threat spiritually, so they only saw the enemy’s strength and
they could not see that their own great power exists, surpassing the enemy by
many tenfold in strength.” Every year has its news, but this year’s news is especially different. The Nationalist army, possessing more than sixty million officers
and soldiers, was unable to see its own more than sixty million, yet it saw the
People’s Liberation Army of more than three million. Could it be that this is
somehow not a piece of special news? I would like to ask if this type of news is
still for sale on the market and if it is still worth a look from the people. According
to the news we received from Beiping, “On New Year’s Day prices fell slightly,
and by the afternoon they had returned to the original [price].” The Associated
Press19 says: “Shanghai’s reaction to Chiang Kaishek’s New Year’s speech was
cold.” This just answered war criminal Chiang Kaishek’s sales question. We said
early on that Chiang Kaishek has already lost his soul and is only a zombie, and
no one trusts him.

---

Notes

Our source for this text is Mao Zedong ji, Vol. 10, pp. 211–15, where it is reproduced
from Renmin ribao, January 6, 1949.
7.  present → their present

--- Notes

1.  Exposing the Plot of War Criminal Chiang Kaishek to Sue for Peace → Discussing
the War Criminal’s Suing for Peace

2.  January 3 → January 5
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719436-223

3.  colony, → colony,—in short, “peace” that is harmful to all methods that protect
Chiang Kaishek’s reactionary nation’s “independence and integrity”—

4.  the running dogs have not run → “the running dogs have not run”

5.  exercise → exercise toward the people of the entire nation

6.  present → their present

8.  this → this starving and frozen

9.  workers → workers, manual laborers, and independent craftsmen

10.  simultaneously clapped their hands, → could only simultaneously clap their hands,

11.  does not permit peace, → does not permit peace and cannot maintain this type of
wonderful lifestyle and standard of living,

12.  Below is → There is also

13.  Chiang Kaishek calls it the “decisive battle of Beiping and Shanghai.” → This is
what Chiang Kaishek mentioned in his New Year’s speech as the “decisive battle of Beiping
and Shanghai.” Where is the strength to “fight a decisive battle”?

14.  military strength → “military strength”

15.  two times → “surpassing” this number twofold

16.  other party? → other party that can survive by a fluke?

17.  not → absolutely not

18.  our government side → inside our government

19.  The Associated Press → A foreign news agency