893.00/1–1049
Mr. Mao Tse-tung to the American Ambassador in China (Hurley)
My Dear General Hurley: Your courteous letter of January 7th, 1945 has been received.
The five-point proposal set forth by our party in November of 1944 was refused by the National Government. And it was extremely difficult for our party to agree to the three-point proposal of the National Government,26 so we proposed that the National Government first voluntarily carry out four points including the release of political prisoners with which to prove whether or not the National Government is sincere in wanting to solve national problems on a democratic basis. Your letter proposing to hold a conference between the two parties with your personal participation in Yenan has been received with great appreciation, but I still feel that nothing can be achieved from this conference except to inconvenience you by travelling back and forth. All the secret negotiations of the past eight years between the two parties have proved that there is not the least sincerity on the part of the National Government. I would like to ask you to be so kind as [Page 169] to transfer the following proposals of our party to the National Government:
To call, in Chungking, a preparatory conference for convening a National Affairs Conference; the preparatory conference to be made up of delegates from the Kuomintang, the Communist Party and the Democratic Federation; guarantee that proceedings of the conference will be public; that the delegates will have equal standing and freedom of travel.
If the above proposals are agreed to by the National Government, General Chow En-lai will go to Chungking for discussions. We would appreciate your kind reply.
With my warm personal regards and wishes for your continued health and success, I remain,
Yours respectfully,
- See Third Counterdraft by Chinese Government Representatives, November 21, 1944, Foreign Relations, 1944, vol. vi, p. 706.↩