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Civil War and Repatriation 6 Nationalists Versus Communists: The Worsening Conflict After the surrender by the Japanese, both the KMT and the Chinese Communist armed forces raced to move into areas in north China, particularly Manchuria, which had been occupied by the Japanese during most of the war years. With assistance from the US, KMT forces were airlifted to important cities in the north such as Shenyang and Qingdao. At the same time, there were intermittent local skirmishes between the KMT and the Communist forces, mainly in the northeast and Shandong, but also in Guangdong and Hainan Island. Pressurecamefromindependentpoliticalparties,suchastheChinaDemocratic Union and the Revolutionary Committee of the KMT. The latter party was a leftwing faction of the KMT headed by Soong Ching-ling and He Xiangning. Chiang Kai-shek wished to show that he was prepared to negotiate with the Communists and loosen his firm grip on the whole country. Therefore, on 14, 20 and 24 August, he sent telegrams to Mao Zedong in Yan’an and invited him to Chongqing to “talk on all outstanding issues, both domestic and international”. Patrick Hurley, the American ambassador, accompanied by General Zhang Zhizhong, flew to Yan’an on 27 August. Mao, accompanied by Zhou Enlai and Wang Ruofei, then flew to Chongqing on 28 August. After having talked face to face with Chiang, mainly on general issues like the future relationship between the two political parties, they delegated the actual detailed negotiations to Zhang Qun and Wang Shijie, representing the KMT, and Zhou Enlai and Wang Ruofei, representing the Communists. Negotiations started on 29 August, when the KMT side declared that they were “willing to hear the views of the Communists” and concurrently that “they were not going to start a civil war” — hence the need for “real negotiations”. The actual negotiations began on 4 September, when the KMT tabled their proposals. They included: 108 East River Column 1. Communist armed forces should be rationalized and reorganized into a total force of no more than 12 divisions; 2. The legitimacy of liberated areas, i.e. Communist-controlled areas would not be recognized; 3. The National Defence Commission would be reorganized into a political body with participation by all political parties; and 4. The original National Assembly would be retained. Negotiations between the two sides went back and forth from 8 to 15 September, as both refused to give way on difficult issues, e.g. the retention of the agreed strength of armed forces on both sides and the number to be demobilized. Finally, General Patrick Hurley mediated, and the Communists made a major concession. Zhou Enlai agreed to reduce the total strength of the Communist forces to no more than 20 divisions, while the central government would maintain a total strength of 120 divisions. Zhou further agreed to repatriate soldiers based in liberated areas in Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei and Henan to north Jiangsu, north Shandong and Anhui. Further meetings were held between 27 September and 5 October. The question of convening a National Political Consultative Conference was getting closer, and the thorny issue of demarcation of liberated areas and the ultimate strength of armed forces remained unresolved, so both sides agreed on 8 October to sign a tentative agreement on a “Summary of negotiation”. This so-called agreement merely confirmed the minutes of the negotiations so far. It was signed on 10 October between Zhou Enlai and Wang Ruofei for the Communists, and Wang Shijie, Zhang Qun, General Zhang Zhizhong and Shao Lizi for the central government. The twelve points covered in the agreement were: 1. In view of the need to embark on a policy of peaceful reconstruction in the country, both sides agreed to be united and embark on a long period of cooperation under Chiang Kai-shek’s leadership, refrain from civil war and build an independent, free and strong new China, and thoroughly implement Sun Yat-sen’s policy of the Three People’s Principles. 2. On the political front, both sides agreed to introduce the rule of law, and convene a political consultative conference of all political parties. 3. The National Assembly was referred to as the Political Consultative Conference. 4. Both sides agreed that the people should have freedom of belief, speech, publication and assembly. The existing constitution should be suitably amended so that such rights would be enshrined. 5. The Communists requested that the central government should recognize the legal and equal status of all the political parties. The...

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