The eight peace conditions put forward by our side are directed against the five conditions of the Chiang side. The Chiang side has three items—constitution, legal tradition, and armed forces—and our side also has these three items. Chiang proposes preserving national independence, while we propose abrogating treasonous treaties. Chiang proposes maintaining the free way of life and ensuring a minimum standard of living as one item, whereas we separately put forward two items: confiscating bureaucrat capital and reforming the land system. In addition, our first item (punishing war criminals) and eighth item (the Political Consultative Conference, the coalition government, and takeover) are about strictly assigning war responsibility and refusing to recognize the continued existence of the Nanjing regime. The conditions of both sides are unacceptable to the other, and the war must be fought to the end. Therefore, there is no contradiction whatsoever with the New Year’s message; on the contrary, it gives the People’s Liberation Army and the oppressed people in the Kuomintang areas a weapon to strike at the Kuomintang and exposes the hypocrisy and reactionary nature of the peace proposals put forward by the Kuomintang. It is hoped that proper explanations will be made to Party cadres and democratic personages.

[1] This is the main content of a telegram drafted by Mao Zedong for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, addressed to the Northeast Bureau and for the information of all central bureaus, sub-bureaus, and various front committees.
[2] The five conditions of the Chiang side refer to the five conditions for peace negotiations put forward by Chiang Kai-shek in his “New Year’s Message” of January 1, 1949: “no harm to the independence and integrity of the nation,” “conducive to the recuperation and rest of the people,” “the sacred constitution shall not be violated by me, democratic constitutional governance shall not be undermined thereby, the national structure of the Republic of China can be ensured, and the legal tradition of the Republic of China shall not be interrupted,” “the armed forces shall have firm guarantees,” and “the people can maintain their free way of life and their current minimum standard of living.”