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(1) The Chongqing Negotiations and the Double Tenth Agreement

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Following China’s victory in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the long-established conflicts between the Kuomintang of China (KMT, 中國國民黨) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP, 中國共產黨) resurfaced. Coupled with their disagreements on issues regarding Japan’s surrender as well as the control over the Japanese-occupied areas, and the distribution of armaments, the national political tensions were running high. Meanwhile, the people were exhausted from war and therefore demanded lasting peace. The United States and the Soviet Union also spared no effort to advocate the KMT-CCP peace talks.

In August 1945, the KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) sent three invitations to the CCP Chairman Mao Zedong (毛澤東) for negotiations in Chongqing (重慶). The then US Ambassador to China Patrick J. Hurley flew to Yan’an (延安) on 28 August to meet Mao. Accompanied by the ambassador, Mao and the CCP delegation flew to Chongqing. The CCP representatives were Mao, Zhou Enlai (周恩來), and Wang Ruofei (王若飛), while the KMT representatives included Chiang, Wang Shijie, and Zhang Qun. After 43 days of negotiation, the two parties concluded the Summary of Conversations Between the Government and the Representatives of the Chinese Communist Party, also known as the Double Tenth Agreement, on 10 October 1945. The Nationalist Government agreed to a peaceful state-building of China and the proposal for the formation of a political consultative conference. The Agreement also specified major issues including the democratisation of the political system, the nationalisation of the army, and the legislation on the equality of all political parties. However, the KMT demanded the CCP to reduce its military and submit to the KMT’s command. The CCP refused to give up its military independence and as a result, nationwide armed conflicts continued.

The United States and the Soviet Union formed their own camp after World War II. The KMT and the CCP, ideologically opposite, followed different camps led by the two great powers. Why did the United States and the Soviet Union still prompt the two parties to negotiate?

See answer below.

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On 15 August 1945, Japan announced its unconditional surrender. The National Revolutionary Army (NRA) entered the enemy-occupied areas to accept Japanese surrender, and confiscated goods and materials from the puppet troops. The United States helped to transport the NRA with its planes. The photo shows the NRA examining surrendered Japanese troops in Nanjing (南京) in September 1945.

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While the NRA sped up taking over the enemy-occupied areas, the CCP forces did the same and advanced into the enemy-occupied areas in Northeast and North China. The photo shows the latter reaching the Shanhai Pass (山海關), a strategic pass between Northeast and North China, on 30 August 1945.

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On 30 August 1945, the CCP troops joined forces with a Soviet squad and arrived at the Shanhai Pass. They demanded the Japanese garrisons to surrender but were told that they would only surrender to the NRA. Eventually, the CCP and the Soviet troops took the pass by force.

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As the KMT and the CCP grew more confrontational after the war, the Chinese people, the United States, and the Soviet Union hoped for a negotiated settlement. Left: Chiang Kai-shek in the temporary capital of Chongqing in late August 1945, during which he sent Mao Zedong three invitations to negotiate. Right: Mao’s reply accepting the invitation.

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On 28 August 1945, Mao Zedong (second from the left), Zhou Enlai (second from the right), Wang Ruofei (first from the right), Patrick J. Hurley (middle), and KMT representative Zhang Zhizhong (張治中, first from the left) took this photo at the Yan’an Airport before they boarded the flight to Chongqing.

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A group photo of the three parties involved in the Chongqing Negotiations in 1945, from left to right: Patrick J. Hurley, Chiang Kai-shek, Mao Zedong. One of the reasons why Hurley accompanied Mao to Chongqing was to ensure his safety.

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The two most representative photos from the Chongqing Negotiations. Left: Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong. Right: Mao and Chiang making a toast during the banquet.

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After 43 days of negotiation on 10 October 1945, the two parties concluded the Summary of Conversations Between the Government and the Representatives of the Chinese Communist Party, also known as the Double Tenth Agreement. According to the Agreement, the two sides shall avoid a civil war, observe democratic constitutionalism, and reorganise the army. The CCP shall acknowledge the legitimacy of the Nationalist Government and the Nationalist Government shall recognise the legitimacy and the equality of all political parties including the CCP.

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After signing the Double Tenth Agreement, Mao Zedong left Chongqing for Yan’an on 11 October 1945 with the KMT representative Zhang Zhizhong (second from the left). Chen Cheng (陳誠, second from the right), the Minister of War of the Nationalist Government, sending them off.

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The Chongqing Negotiations were held amid military conflicts, among which the one in Shanxi Province (山西) was large in scale. Left: Chiang Kai-shek’s confidential letter to the Governor of Shanxi Province Yan Xishan (閻錫山) written during the Chongqing Negotiations regarding the battles against the CCP. Right: The KMT printed copies of Extermination of Communist Bandits during the Chongqing Negotiations. Since their split in 1927, the KMT had referred to the CCP as “communist bandits”.

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Between 10 September and 12 October 1945, the two parties engaged in the Shangdang Campaign (上黨戰役) and the CCP troops won. Left: The CCP troops attacking the NRA’s position in the Shangdang Campaign. Right: Mao Zedong used the secret radio at the Southern Bureau of the CCP to command the Shangdang Campaign. Neither the Chongqing Negotiations nor the Double Tenth Agreement could resolve the fundamental conflicts between the two parties.

The United States and the Soviet Union formed their own camp after World War II. The KMT and the CCP, ideologically opposite, followed different camps led by the two great powers. Why did the United States and the Soviet Union still prompt the two parties to negotiate?

After World War II, the way the United States and the Soviet Union acted and their policies towards China were shaped by historical precedents, the international situation, and their respective stakes in China.

Over the past four centuries in the Western world, large-scale war unanimously led to winning parties signing balanced agreements to divide the gains, and post-war world orders were thus established. For instance, the Peace of Westphalia came after the Thirty Years’ War in Europe between 1618 and 1648; the Congress of Vienna followed the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815; the Treaty of Versailles was the outcome of World War I. Before the end of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union had already established themselves as superpowers. The Yalta Conference in February 1945 and the agreements made at it were basically their plans to divide the world and build a new world order with themselves in dominant positions.

Judging by the international situation, neither of the two superpowers could, in the short term, overwhelm the other, nor could they afford another war. Therefore, the two powers drew lines between their sphere of influence. The United States took west Europe and the Soviet Union east Europe. Some countries were split in half in this process, hence the birth of East and West Germany, North and South Korea, and North and South Vietnam, with China being another target on their list.

The United States and the Soviet Union hoped to increase their presence in China to consolidate their respective interest. Ideologically, the KMT sided with the capitalist United States while the CCP sided with the communist Soviet Union. Although the United States supported the KMT, it was dissatisfied with the Chiang Kai-shek Administration. Starting in 1944, the United States had been in contact with the CCP. Some US political and military influential people even showed favour for the CCP. Although the United States would prevent the CCP from replacing the KMT as the ruling party in China, it used the CCP to counterbalance Chiang so that the Nationalist Government could be controlled more easily. As for the Soviet Union, it viewed the CCP ’s military of around a million as a possibly useful instrument. However, it did not believe that the CCP could defeat the KMT armed with several million forces. Therefore, it was in the Soviet Union’s interest to prioritise the CCP’s survival and prompt peace talks between the two parties. Besides, the Soviet Union and the Nationalist Government signed the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance in August 1945, from which the former received highly favourable terms that it did not want to sacrifice if a Chinese civil war broke out.

Overall, after World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union used the KMT and CCP for their own interests. They prompted peace talks between the two parties and exercised their clout in China without interfering with each other. Even the CCP’s triumph was obvious in the later stage of the civil war, the two powers still placed their bets on negotiations. They wanted to divide China by the Yangtze River (長江) with the CCP on the north (the Soviet sphere of influence) and the KMT on the south (the US sphere of influence).

Source of most photos used in this feature piece: Fotoe.

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