Chapter 85 Conversation with Three Western Journalists

(December 9, 1946) 1. Hammer asked: Is the Kuomintang army still trying to attack Yan'an? Answer: The plan to attack Yan'an has long been decided, and we will continue to fight, but we are very likely to defeat the invading army. 2. Roderick asked: Is the domestic situation in China about to continue? How can negotiations be resumed? Answer: It is necessary to continue fighting, because others want to fight. "The current policy of the Chinese Communist Party is still to respect the line of the Political Consultative Conference [1] and to fight for the restoration of the position of the January armistice agreement [2]. The illegal split National Assembly [3] that is now held should be dissolved." [4] Now all the agreements of the Political Consultative Conference have been broken by them. They have held the "National Congress" politically and launched a full-scale offensive militarily.

3. Roderick asked: Is the Chinese Communist Party no longer bound by the armistice agreement? In the past, it always used the excuse of being attacked to fight back. Can it now attack wherever the Communist army has the strength to attack? Answer: The armistice agreement has long been broken by others. Of course, we are no longer bound by it. Future negotiations will depend on the outcome of the war. 4. Hammer asked: Will there be only two possibilities in the future: either the Communist Party’s power will become very large, or it will become very small? Answer: Very likely. 5. Roderick asked: The spokesperson of the US State Department stated that the reasons for the US Marine Corps stationed in China are: (1) to protect the safety of the family members and property of US personnel in the Executive Department of Military Mediation; (2) to ensure the opening of the railway between Tianjin and Tanggu, In order to enable the American personnel of the Peking Executive Department to obtain supplies.That being the case, why doesn’t the Chinese Communist Party withdraw the CCP personnel from the executive department, so that the executive department does not exist at all, so that it will dispel their excuses, but is it a smart move?

Answer: Now that there are Americans in Harbin and Yan'an, wouldn't it be good for the US to simply expand its garrison to Harbin and Yan'an? What the US State Department spokesman said is just an excuse. 6. Hamer asks: What is the reason for keeping the executive department? A: The Americans don't want to retreat, so we don't want to retreat either. We haven't considered whether to retreat in the future. 7. Roderick asked: Americans fully support Chiang Kai-shek because the Chinese Communist Party is xenophobic. This is the case in the history of the past 1927. A: The Chinese Communist Party is not xenophobic and welcomes people like Roderick.Hurley[5] and his ilk will be opposed to him, but it doesn't mean that he won't be given food, and rice will still be given to him, even if there is no welcome meeting, and he doesn't slap his hands when he speaks. First-class people should be sent out of China.Now there are two kinds of Americans. Ma Haide, Rittenberg, and Smedley[6] are all good Americans, and there is Strong[7] in Yan'an who is also a good person. We welcome such people.Not only such people, but also those who oppose us, we are also willing to let them come to the liberated areas to take a look, as long as they do some fair reports, it will be good for us.I hope that journalists will become the spokespersons of the people and not the spokespersons of the reactionaries.

8. Roderick asked: Is the meeting of people's representatives ready to be held? Answer: We have seen your telegram, and our attitude is relatively fair.The People's Congress has not yet been convened, and it will not be convened when the Kuomintang troops attack Yan'an, nor will it be convened if they do not attack.It must be held in the future, because it is a people's representative meeting, and at least some work experience must be summed up. 9. Hammer asked: The Communist Party is opposed to the Sino-US Business Treaty [8]. Why? Answer: The Sino-US commercial treaty is an unequal treaty, which allows Americans to buy houses, real estate, build factories, and open stores in China at will, and American ships can sail in China's inland rivers.In the past, the Japanese requested in the "Twenty-One"[9] that these things should be done in a part of China—Manchuria[10], but they were opposed by the entire Chinese people.

Hamer asked: The inland rivers of the United Kingdom also allow American ships to go there, and the Chinese can also buy houses and open factories in foreign countries. Why do you say that the Sino-US business agreement is an unequal treaty? Answer: It will be many years before China has capital and ships before it can go to foreign countries. It is not yet possible. Hammer asked: I am going to buy a house in Beiping, will it be confiscated in the future? Answer: It will not be confiscated. People like you, we can give you a few houses to live in. Hammer asked: In the eyes of the Chinese, an equal treaty is to not give China's interests to foreign countries, but to enjoy foreign interests.

A: A treaty like what you said is also an unequal treaty. Roderick asked: Why does the Chinese Communist Party not openly express its opposition to the Sino-US business agreement? Will the Communist Party want to abolish this treaty when it gains power in the future? Answer: We publicly stated that we must abolish it in the future, and this treaty has not been implemented in the liberated areas. "We are opposed to the China-U.S. commercial treaty. November 4th is China's new national humiliation day. This commercial treaty should be abolished and another equal commercial treaty should be established." [11] X. Roderick asked: February this year During the period, the chairman mentioned that the world situation is conducive to the development of the democratic movement. Is this still the case?

A: It is even higher now.Since February of this year, everything the U.S. imperialists have done has gone against the will of the people and is on the verge of failure.There is a difference between the American reactionaries and the American people. If the reactionaries want to dominate the world, they will inevitably arouse the opposition of the people all over the world.There are reactionaries in every country in the world. They go against the will of the majority of the people, oppress democracy and oppress the people, and they are bound to be opposed by the people.A few months ago, the American people did not know the reactionary policies of the United States, such as stationing troops in China, interfering in China's internal affairs, and supporting Chiang Kai-shek against the Communist Party. Write articles to express objection.On July 7 this year, we issued a manifesto[13] criticizing the policies of the United States and Chiang Kai-shek. At that time, Chinese and foreign people said that it was a bit too much, but now few people defend the U.S. policies, and Steele[14] did not defend the U.S. policies. Xiude[15] wrote a book criticizing the Kuomintang.Now the U.S. is putting out smokescreens against the Soviet Union, trying to dominate the world. First, it will harm the interests of China and the United Kingdom, and second, the middle ground between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union’s construction behind closed doors has no effect on it.So this policy is bound to fail.The American people are also leaning to the left and don't like the current policies. This election is proof that if they like the policies of the Democrats, they will definitely vote for the Democrats. Those who vote for the Republicans are because the Republicans have not been in charge for 12 years and want to try a different one. , may change within ten years.The British people are also leaning to the left. Forty percent of the Labor Party MPs are opposed to Bevin's [16] policies. I estimate that those who oppose Bevin and Attlee's [17] in the British Labor Party for a year or more may account for a majority most.The Chinese people are also leaning to the left. The Communists live in earthen caves in Yan'an and eat millet. What capital do they have? But in five months, thirty-nine brigades of the regular Kuomintang army have been wiped out.Good journalists do not believe anti-Soviet lies.The labor movement in the United States is not yet unified, there are two or three factions, and it is not unified organizationally and politically, but there is hope in the future, and the United States will definitely realize socialism in the future.It's just that China is more difficult, and there will be twists and turns in the future.In short, the worldwide democratic movement is on the rise.

11. Chen Yifan asked: It is impossible for the Communist Party to accept the U.S. mediation of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. Do you welcome the British mediation? Answer: The UK does not have the courage to oppose the US policy now, so what is the use of following the US? It wants to oppose the US, and the US is not easy to deal with.China's problems are still to be solved by the Chinese themselves, but technical assistance from foreign countries is welcome. 12. Hamer asked: What is the attitude of the CCP on the Hong Kong issue? Answer: We are not asking for immediate return. China is so big and many places are not managed well. Why rush to get this small place first? It can be resolved through negotiation in the future.

Published based on the transcript of the conversation kept by the Central Archives. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] Political Consultative Conference, see note [8] on page 143 of this volume. [2] See note [7] on page 143 of this volume. [3] See note [14] on page 201 of this volume. [4] The words in the quotation marks were published by Mao Zedong in agreement with Hammer and other reporters. [5] Hurley, American Republican.In November 1944, he served as the U.S. ambassador to China. He was resolutely opposed by the Chinese people because of his support for Chiang Kai-shek's anti-communist policies. He resigned in November 1945.

[6] Ma Haide (1910-1988), originally from Lebanon, was born in the United States.In 1933, he came to Shanghai, China to engage in medical work. In 1936, he arrived in the revolutionary base area in northern Shaanxi. In 1937, he joined the Communist Party of China.In 1946, he served as the medical consultant of the CPC delegation of the Executive Department of the Beiping Military Mediation.Rittenberg, born in 1921, is an American progressive.Came to China in 1945.In July and October 1946, he worked successively in editing and broadcasting English broadcasts in Zhangjiakou and Yan'an Xinhua Radio Stations.Smedley (1890-1950), American progressive female writer and reporter.At the end of 1928, he came to China as a special correspondent for the "Frankfurt Daily" and participated in the Chinese Progressive Cultural Movement in Shanghai.In 1937, he went to Yan'an to interview the leaders of the Communist Party of China.After that, he moved to Central China and East China with the New Fourth Army for two years.Returned to the United States in 1941.

[7] Strong (1885-1970), American progressive female writer and reporter.In June 1946, he visited China for the fifth time and entered Yan'an at the end of July of the same year.In February 1947, he left Yan'an. [8] Sino-US commercial treaty, that is, the "Sino-US Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation" signed by the Kuomintang government and the US government in Nanjing on November 4, 1946.There are 30 articles in this treaty that sells China's sovereignty in a large number. Various occupations reserved exclusively for the Chinese, as well as rights such as leasing land.If a third country is allowed to explore and develop China's mineral resources, the United States also enjoys this right.Americans in China have to enjoy the same treatment as Chinese in terms of economic rights.Second, the taxation, sale, distribution or use of American goods in China shall enjoy no less treatment than that of any third-country goods in China.China "shall not impose any prohibition or restriction" on the import of any plant, product or manufacture from the United States, as well as any items shipped from China to the United States.Third, U.S. ships can navigate freely in any port, place or territorial waters opened by China, and their personnel and goods have the freedom to pass through Chinese territory through the "most convenient route".U.S. ships, including warships, may enter China's "any port, place or territorial water that is not open to foreign commerce or navigation" under the pretext of "any distress". [9] "Twenty-One" is a secret clause aimed at monopolizing China proposed by the Japanese imperialists to the Yuan Shikai government on January 18, 1915, taking advantage of the opportunity of the First World War.There are five numbers of these articles, divided into twenty-one articles.The main contents are: 1. Japan takes over and expands the rights plundered by Germany in Shandong; 2. Recognizes that Japan enjoys various privileges in southern Manchuria and eastern Inner Mongolia; 3. Changes the Hanyeping Company to a Sino-Japanese joint venture; 4. China's coastal harbors and islands shall not be ceded or leased to third countries; 5. Japan shall control China's political, financial, police, and military power, and allow Japan to build important railways between Hubei, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and Guangdong provinces, and Recognize that Japan enjoys the priority of investing in building railways, mining mines, and rectifying Haikou in Fujian.On May 7, Japan issued an ultimatum.On May 9, the Yuan Shikai government recognized all these demands of Japan, except for a part of the fifth requirement in the statement "to be negotiated in the future".Later, due to the unanimous opposition of the people of the whole country and the conflicts in the interests of various imperialist countries in China, these demands of Japan were not fully realized. [10] Manchuria, that is, Northeast China. [11] The words in the quotation marks were published by Mao Zedong in agreement with Hamer and other reporters. [12] Snow (1905-1972), American progressive writer and reporter.Came to China in 1928.In 1936, he went to the revolutionary base in northern Shaanxi and interviewed Mao Zedong and other leaders of the Communist Party of China many times.In 1939, he went to Yan'an again for an interview. When Mao Zedong met with him, he talked about the united front and international issues.In 1941, he was attacked by the Kuomintang reactionaries and was forced to leave China.From 1942 to 1943, he came to China again. [13] Refers to the "Declaration of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to Commemorate the 9th Anniversary of July 7th" published on July 7, 1946. [14] Steele, China correspondent of the New York Herald Tribune. [15] Bai Xiude, born in 1915, American journalist and writer.From 1939 to 1945, he served as the reporter of the American "Time" magazine in Chongqing, and visited Yan'an in 1944.In 1946, he co-authored "The Chinese Storm" with Jia Anna. The book was once banned in Jiang's area because it exposed the corruption of the Kuomintang during the Anti-Japanese War. [16] Bevan (1881-1951), British politician.He was the British Foreign Secretary at the time. [17] Attlee (1883-1967), leader of the British Labor Party.Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at the time.