On August 14, 1945, Japan declared its unconditional surrender, and on September 2, The Japanese representative signed the surrender on board the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. The government of the Republic of China also sent representatives to attend the Japanese surrender ceremony and signed the surrender document. The people, who thought they could enjoy peace from then on, were once again caught up in the civil war between the Communist Party and China. According to the Communist Party’s rhetoric, the civil war was started by the Kuomintang, but the truth was just the opposite.
The government of the Republic of China had the right to surrender to Japan
After the official surrender of Japan, according to the regulations of the Allied Supreme Commander, U.S. General MacArthur, the surrendered area in the Chinese war zone was the Republic of China, Taiwan, China and Vietnam north of the 16th parallel, and northeast China was surrendered by Soviet Russia. Since the ROC was the only legitimate government in China and the war against Japan was led by it, the ROC government and the anti-Japanese army under it had the right to surrender to Japan not only in name but also in practice on behalf of the entire Chinese people, and the CCP simply did not have the right to surrender to Japan alone.
On the one hand, after the outbreak of the war in 1937, the CCP had already declared that its regime was a “local government” under the jurisdiction of the central government of the Republic of China, and was accepted by the government of the Republic of China. Its army was also part of the National Revolutionary Army (NRA), with the names of the “Eighteenth Army Group of the NRA” and the “New Fourth Army of the NRA”. On the other hand, the Chinese Communist Party‘s conspiracy to resist the war by insisting on fake resistance and real expansion during the eight-year war of resistance had already deprived them of the right to surrender to Japan, which they should have had morally and practically, but under the command of the ROC government and its military committee.
For this reason, on the occasion of the announcement of Japan’s surrender, Chiang Kai-shek, the supreme commander of the Chinese theater of operations, in order to avoid the Chinese Communist Party taking advantage of the opportunity to rebel, specifically included in his order concerning the surrender to Japan “a warning to the enemy forces under his jurisdiction not to surrender their arms to anyone except by order of the military governor designated by the (Chinese) government”, and at the same Time issued to all troops throughout the country “On August 11, Chiang also called Zhu De, the commander-in-chief of the 18th Army Group, regarding this order: “The troops in the territory of the present combat zone should be under the jurisdiction of the commander-in-chief of the respective theater of operations.”
Thereafter, the war zones began to be surrendered one after another; in October, the Nationalist government officially recaptured Taiwan.
The Chinese Communist Party seized the right to surrender and Zhu De threatened Chiang Kai-shek
However, the Chinese Communist Party that had faked the war and expanded in the past eight years was no longer the Chinese Communist Party of eight years ago, which had developed 1.2 million members, 120 troops, and controlled a population of more than 100 million. At this time, the Chinese Communist Party began to impatiently prepare to seize the fruits of victory in the war and seize power with the Kuomintang, first of all, to seize the right to surrender to Japan.
On the night of August 9, when Yan’an learned of Japan’s surrender and the Soviet Union’s declaration of war on Japan, Mao Zedong immediately issued an order to the Chinese Communist army to “carry out an extensive march” against the Japanese.
Within 18 hours from the night of August 10 to the afternoon of August 11, Mao issued seven consecutive orders to the Chinese Communist army, with the intention of “immediately launching an army of 200,000 to seize the Central Plains. To this end, Mao also ordered the Chinese Communist army everywhere to forcefully surrender to Japan, forcibly obstruct the surrender of government troops, forcibly “occupy and destroy major transportation routes throughout the country,” “collect the Japanese army’s arms,” and “treat Chinese who resist as At the same time, in the name of the “Commander-in-Chief of the Anti-Japanese Army of the Chinese Liberation Area”, he designated the surrender site without authorization and ordered Japanese commander Okamura Neiji to surrender to the Chinese Communist army.
On August 11, after receiving Chiang Kai-shek’s order that the surrender be planned by the government, Zhu De blatantly retorted by telegram, calling Chiang’s order “totally wrong” and even threatening, “If you do not openly admit the mistake you have made and openly withdraw your wrong order, I will completely oppose your order.” His rogue face was evident.
On August 13, Mao also reversed black and white in his editorial for the Xinhua News Agency, saying, “We would like to announce to our compatriots throughout the country and to the people of the world that the Chongqing Commander-in-Chief does not represent the Chinese people and the real anti-Japanese army of China. The anti-Japanese army of the Chinese Liberation Army, under the command of Commander-in-Chief Zhu De, sent his representatives directly to the four Allied powers to accept the Japanese surrender and the right to administer Japan militarily. To do otherwise would have been considered very improper by the Chinese people.”
It was under Mao’s orders that the Chinese Communist forces began a mad scramble for the right to accept surrender. In addition to forcibly surrendering to Japan in Chahar, Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, and northern Jiangsu, the CCP also attacked, surrounded, and disarmed 30,000 Japanese troops who refused to surrender to the CCP, fighting a “great war and campaign war” against the Japanese that had never been fought in eight years, and gaining an unprecedented “anti-Japanese war results.
Meanwhile, the two counties of Jining and Qingshui in Suiyuan, North China, were surrendered by the government forces only five days before they were sacked by 30,000 Chinese communist troops marching from Hebei and Shanxi on August 12. On September 11, the northeastern advancing army of the famous anti-Japanese general Ma Zhanshan was besieged and destroyed by Chinese communist troops when they marched from Suiyuan to Chahar to surrender more than 3,000 men. ……
Soviet Communist Party helped the CCP to accept the Northeast
In addition, Mao ordered the dispatch of more than a thousand CCP cadres to enter the northeast quickly to carry out prior propaganda in public opinion; at the same time, with the Soviet Union’s acquiescence and secret help, hundreds of thousands of CCP troops drove into the northeast, and the Soviet Union also gave the CCP troops the weapons obtained from the millions of Japanese troops in the northeast.
On October 28, 1945, when the Northeast Security Commander Du Iu-ming flew to Changchun to negotiate with Soviet Marshal Malinowski about the Nationalist government’s entry into the Northeast, Malinowski “enthusiastically promised” that Chinese troops would land at Yingkou. However, when Du Iu-ming, who had returned to Shanghai, sailed outside Yingkou port on November 7 with an army on board a U.S. ship, he found not only that the Soviet troops were nowhere to be found, but also that the beach at Yingkou was full of Chinese Communist troops who were building defensive landing fortifications. It turned out that the Soviets had already informed the Chinese Communists to “take over”. Du I.M. had to lead his troops to Qinhuangdao, which was occupied by American troops, to land. Since then, there was no hope for the ROC government troops to enter the Northeast to take over, and the 13th and 52nd armies sent by the government troops to the Northeast had to fight from outside the gate, beating back the Communist army’s blockade, first capturing Shanhaiguan, then Jinzhou, and only in late November did they “enter” the Northeast to take over. As the Soviets supported the Chinese Communist conspiracy to seize the Northeast and seized it by force, China’s civil war had actually broken out openly in the Northeast.
Mao shouted “Long live Chairman Chiang” during the Chongqing negotiations
While the Chinese Communist Party was seizing the fruits of victory in the war, the Republican government, which was defending itself against foreign invasion, was greatly wounded: the economy in most areas was stagnant, Inflation was serious, and all industries were waiting to be revived; moreover, the internal political corruption of the Nationalist government made the whole operation of the country sluggish and lost the hearts of the people. In order to avoid civil war and facilitate post-war recovery, Chiang Kai-shek invited Mao Zedong to Chongqing three times to discuss important international and domestic issues, and repeatedly appealed to the international community to mediate and help (e.g. by calling Stalin), hoping that the Chinese Communist Party would call a truce and participate in the post-war construction of a democratic and constitutional government in China.
In order to relieve Mao’s security concerns, Chiang Kai-shek also personally urged U.S. Ambassador Hurley to accompany Mao on the same flight between Chongqing and Yan’an. Under Soviet orders and domestic public opinion, Mao went to Chongqing for negotiations on August 26, 1945. However, on the eve of his departure, Mao continued to give the order that “the offensive should continue in the coming period”. It is conceivable that Mao never gave up his ambition to seize power, and his trip to Chongqing for negotiations was also a manifestation of his political tactics.
On October 10, the two sides signed the Minutes of Talks in Chongqing, also known as the Double Ten Agreement. From the twelve-sided agreement reached, the provisions on “political democratization”, “nationalization of the army” and “recognition of the equal legal status of the Kuomintang, the Communist Party and all parties before the law The provisions of the agreement on “political democratization,” “nationalization of the army,” and “recognition of the equality and legitimacy of the Kuomintang, the Communist Party and all parties before the law” were in fact of great progressive significance. This was undoubtedly a concrete achievement and a major accomplishment in the construction of a democratic constitutional government in China, and a political principle that must be followed in a democratic country.
After the negotiations, Chiang Kai-shek held a cocktail party, which Mao also attended. At the cocktail party, Mao toasted Chiang Kai-shek and Mao said, “Long live Chairman Chiang!” which drew the attention of the whole audience, both Chinese and foreign. Tong Xiaopeng, who has long worked beside Zhou Enlai as an eyewitness, wrote about this historical fact in his book “Forty Years at Zhou Enlai’s Side” published in 2015.
In addition, in 1980, at a meeting of 4,000 cadres at the central, local and provincial military levels held by the Communist Party of China, Writer Xia Yan criticized Mao for being “suspicious and fickle, and faithless in his words”, confirming this statement. He said that from August 13 to 16, 1945, Mao had sent three strongly worded telegrams and articles to Chiang Kai-shek, but after Stalin sent an envoy to Yan’an to give instructions, Mao immediately changed his attitude and issued a declaration in the name of the CPC Central Committee on August 25, putting forward the three slogans of “peace, democracy and unity”, namely “A New Stage of Peace and Democracy”. When the Double Ten Agreement was signed in Chongqing, he shouted “Long live Chiang Kai-shek!” in public. This astonished the leaders of the democratic parties present.
It is assumed that Hsia Yan interpreted “Long live Chairman Chiang!” as “Long live Chiang Kai-shek! as “Long live Chiang Kai-shek!” to avoid causing trouble, knowing that Chiang Kai-shek was not the “chairman” of the CCP.
Mao openly broke the agreement to provoke a civil war
However, after the peace talks were over and Mao had shouted “Long live Chairman Chiang!” After returning to Yan’an, he immediately issued an order to the army to “immediately launch an attack on Chiang’s administration”, openly sabotaging the “Double Ten Agreement”. Mao also said, “This time we have done well to break the Kuomintang’s rumors that the Communists do not want peace and unity.” Obviously, Mao’s aim to deceive the nation had been achieved.
On January 10, 1946, a Political Consultative Conference was held in Chongqing, which included the Chinese Communist Party and all democratic parties, and an armistice order was issued at the same time at the request of Marshall. Undoubtedly, the convening of the Political Consultative Conference was of great importance in resolving the political and military problems among the various political forces after the war, especially between the government and the CCP, eliminating the civil war and advancing the process of democratic constitutionalism. However, according to Mr. Xin Hao-nian, a scholar in the United States, this is just another “political show” for Mao and the CCP, who have never given up on seizing the world. The purpose was still to dispel the Kuomintang’s “rumors” that the Communists did not want peace but only civil war; secondly, around the time of the Political Consultative Conference, when the CPC had seized the Northeast and had to consolidate it, Mao and the CPC needed time to stabilize their newly seized Northeast base.
After the conference, the Kuomintang troops strictly enforced the armistice order, while the CCP troops, under Mao’s instructions, took the opportunity to attack and plunder the city to expand their occupation area. In mid-March, the CCP captured Siping, surrounded Changchun, and seized Harbin and Qiqihar. The “Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference” ended in the civil war provoked by the CCP in the northeast. The Chinese Communist Party’s face of fake peace talks and real civil war was exposed.
Conclusion
Of course, there is also a view that the peace talks between the Kuomintang and the CCP were also fake, in order to gain time for the transfer of troops, and that the CCP was not wrong to make a pre-emptive strike. According to my personal opinion, Chiang Kai-shek wanted to avoid civil war after the war for the sake of the people and the country, so he put up with the CCP’s practices again and again.
The most important indication of Chiang’s sincere desire to avoid civil war was the construction of a democratic and constitutional government that began immediately after the war. Although the Chinese Communist Party continued to massively invade the Northeast and North China after the Chinese Political Consultative Conference, the ROC government, the Chinese Nationalist Party and Chiang Kai-shek adopted a policy of “not giving up peace before the final desperate period of peace” in order to avoid civil war. At the same time, he also expressed his expectation that the CPC would participate in the post-war construction of a democratic and constitutional government in China, and hoped to avoid the occurrence and expansion of civil war.
It can be seen that the efforts made by the government of the Republic of China and the Kuomintang to avoid a civil war were all wasted because the Chinese Communist Party faked peace talks but genuinely started a civil war. Not only did the Chinese people fall into the ravages of war again, but the Chinese Communist Party also took the opportunity to steal power and plague the land of China to this day.
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