The Taiwan question is very complex; it is both a domestic question and an international question.
As far as the United States is concerned, this is an international question.
International questions can only be resolved through the peaceful path, not through settlement by force.
We are still negotiating with the United States [2], but the United States has not produced anything of substance.
Previously we talked in Geneva, now we talk in Warsaw, and the question has not been resolved.
We demand that the U.S. military withdraw from Taiwan, but they will not do it. We can only wait. However much time they need to withdraw, we will wait that much time.
We will not be the first to start a fight with the United States, comrades may rest assured.
As far as Chiang Kai-shek is concerned, Taiwan is a domestic question.
Must it be settled by force? Not necessarily. We are prepared to negotiate with Chiang Kai-shek, but he will not do it.
We have no way out; it is possible that one day a fight will break out.
There are two ways to resolve a domestic question: peaceful settlement or settlement by force.
Some people have confused the international question with the domestic question on the Taiwan issue.
Taiwan has a population of only ten million; it does not matter if we do not take back Taiwan (including Jinmen) for a few years.
On the Taiwan question, the United States is attempting to create “two Chinas,” one big China and one small China.
They say, Germany has an East Germany and a West Germany, why can’t there be two Chinas? We say Germany was a defeated nation, our enemy during the Second World War, and was divided into two according to the provisions of the Potsdam Agreement [3].
China was an allied nation during the Second World War.
According to the provisions of the Cairo Conference [4] attended by Churchill, Roosevelt, and Chiang Kai-shek, Taiwan was to be returned to China from the hands of Japan.
Taiwan was originally China’s; the Japanese temporarily occupied it, and after Japan’s defeat, it should be returned to China.
After Chiang Kai-shek was defeated, he ran to Taiwan and established a government in Taiwan.
There are still many countries in the world that have diplomatic relations with the Taiwan authorities.
We oppose “two Chinas,” and Chiang Kai-shek also opposes “two Chinas.” We have a point of agreement, a common ground.

Published according to the *Selected Diplomatic Works of Mao Zedong*, published by Central Literature Publishing House and World Affairs Press in 1994.
Notes
[1] This is part of a talk by Mao Zedong with delegations of the Communist Parties of seventeen Latin American countries, including Brazil, Argentina, Cuba, and Venezuela.
[2] Refers to the Sino-U.S. Ambassadorial Talks, see note [8] on page 64 of this volume.
[3] After the end of the Second World War, the Soviet Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom signed the Protocol of the Berlin (Potsdam) Conference and the Communiqué of the Berlin (Potsdam) Conference on August 2, 1945. These two documents are collectively known as the Potsdam Agreement. The Agreement set forth measures for the postwar disposition of Germany. Among them, in accordance with the Crimea Agreement, it was stipulated that the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France would each exercise supreme authority in their respective zones of occupation in Germany and would jointly handle matters concerning Germany as a whole. In 1947, the U.S. and British occupation zones were merged into a bizone. In 1948, the bizone was merged with the French occupation zone to form a trizone. In September 1949, in order to split Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France established the Federal Republic of Germany, commonly known as West Germany, in the trizone. In October of the same year, the German Democratic Republic, commonly known as East Germany, was established in the Soviet occupation zone.
[4] The Cairo Conference refers to the conference held in Cairo, the capital of Egypt, from November 22 to 26, 1943, by the heads of state of China, the United States, and the United Kingdom: Chiang Kai-shek, Roosevelt, and Churchill. The conference discussed joint operational plans against Japan and how to deal with Japan after its defeat. The *Cairo Declaration*, issued on December 1 of the same year, stipulated: Japan shall be stripped of all the islands in the Pacific which she has seized or occupied since the beginning of the First World War, and all the territories Japan has stolen from the Chinese, such as the Northeast, Taiwan, and the Penghu Islands, shall be restored to China.