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ON CHUNGKING NEGOTIATIONS 63

administration must be carried out first, because this problem, if left unsolved, might
become an obstacle to peace and reconstruction, and it expressed the hope that a
concrete formula with regard to this matter could be agreed upon soon. The Com-
munist Party of China agreed to hold further discussions.”
2 Shangtang was an ancient name for the southeastern part of Shansi Province
with Changchih as its centre. Its mountainous sections were the base of the 129th
Division of the Eighth Route Army during the War of Resistance Against Japan and
formed part of the Shansi-Hopei-Shantung-Honan Liberated Area. In September
1945 the Kuomintang warlord, Yen Hsi-shan, mustered thirteen divisions and, in
co-ordination with Japanese and puppet troops, moved in successively from Linfen,
Fushan and Yicheng and from Taiyuan and Yutse to invade Hsiangyuan, Tunliu and
Lucheng in the Southeastern Shansi Liberated Area. In October the army and
people of this Liberated Area counter-attacked this invading force, wiped out
35,000 men and captured several high-ranking officers, including corps and division
commanders.
3 This refers to the experience gained by the Communist Party of China in its
struggles with the Kuomintang from 1927, when the Kuomintang betrayed the revolu-
tion, to 1945.
4 On September 18, 1931, the Japanese “Kwantung Army” quartered in north-
eastern China seized Shenyang. Under Chiang Kai-shek’s order of “absolute
non-resistance”, the Chinese troops at Shenyang and elsewhere in the Northeast (the
Northeastern Army) withdrew to the south of the Great Wall, and consequently the
Japanese forces rapidly occupied the provinces of Liaoning, Kirin and Heilungkiang.
The Chinese people called this act of aggression committed by the Japanese invaders
the “September 18th Incident”.
5 See “On a Statement by Chiang Kai-shek’s Spokesman”, Note 5, p. 45 of
this volume.
6 Quoted from “On Coalition Government”, Part IV, Section “Our Specific
Programme”, Item 2, Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, Vol. III.
7 This refers to the bases of the people’s army scattered over Kwangtung,
Chekiang, southern Kiangsu, southern Anhwei, central Anhwei, Hunan, Hupeh and
Honan (not including northern Honan).
8 See “China’s Two Possible Destinies” and “How the Foolish Old Man Moved
the Mountains”, Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, Vol. III.
9 From September 11 to October 2, 1945, the Foreign Ministers of the Soviet
Union, China, the United States, Britain and France met in London to discuss peace
treaties with Italy, Rumania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Finland, countries which had
taken part in the war of aggression started by fascist Germany, and to discuss the
disposal of the Italian colonies. No agreement was reached because the United
States, Britain and France rejected the reasonable proposals put forward by the Soviet
Union and persisted in their imperialist policy of aggression aiming at overthrowing
the people’s governments set up in Rumania, Hungary and Bulgaria after victory in
the anti-fascist war.
10 See “Some Points in Appraisal of the Present International Situation”, pp. 87-88
of this volume.