Revealing the three secret peace talks between the KMT and the CCP

Revealing the three secret peace talks between the KMT and the CCP. In the mid-1950s, the Taiwan policy of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China underwent major changes, from the previous policy of relying solely on force to solve the problem...

In the first secret peace talks, Mao Zedong proposed? In May 1955, Premier Zhou Enlai clearly stated at the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress: "The Chinese people are willing to strive to liberate Taiwan by peaceful means under possible conditions." Chairman Mao Zedong also said that we and Taiwan want "peace is most important" and we are patriotic. These changes had a profound impact on the political pattern of the confrontation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. In 1949, Zhang Shizhao, a representative of the Nanjing government delegation who participated in the Peking Peace Talks, took the initiative to invite Zhou Enlai to go to Hong Kong to find his old friends of the Kuomintang who were stranded in Hong Kong, and to work with Chiang Kai-shek and strive to realize the negotiations between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai agreed to Zhang Shizhao's request. To this end, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China wrote a letter to Chiang Kai-shek and gave it to Zhang Shizhao to take to Hong Kong and pass it on to Chiang Kai-shek through connections. In the letter, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China advocated negotiations between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party to realize the third Kuomintang-Communist cooperation, and proposed four specific methods for cross-strait reunification: First, in addition to the central government's control of diplomacy, Taiwan's personnel arrangements, military and political power will be managed by Chiang Kai-shek; second, if Taiwan's economic construction funds are insufficient, the central government can allocate subsidies; third, Taiwan's social reform will be slowed down until conditions are mature, and Chiang Kai-shek's opinions will be respected and representatives of people from all walks of life in Taiwan will be consulted; fourth, both the Kuomintang and the Communist Party must ensure that they do not Do things to undermine the other party in order to facilitate the two parties to cooperate again. The letter ended by saying, "The tombs and huts in Fenghua are still there, and the flowers and plants in Xikou are intact." He hoped that Chiang Kai-shek could return to his hometown to visit. In the spring of 1956, Zhang Shizhao came to Hong Kong with a letter from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to Chiang Kai-shek and met with Mr. Xu Xiaoyan, who was in charge of the KMT's propaganda work in Hong Kong and chaired the "Hong Kong Times". Xu Xiaoyan immediately flew from Hong Kong to Taipei, personally handed the letter from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to Chiang Kai-shek, and reported to Chiang Kai-shek the status of his talks with Zhang Shizhao. After a year of careful consideration, Chiang Kai-shek decided to send Song Yishan to Beijing in early 1957 to understand the true intentions of the CCP. Song was a student of Chiang Kai-shek and had served as an alternate member of the Kuomintang Central Committee. He was relatively reliable to Chiang Kai-shek. In April 1957, Song Yishan traveled through Hong Kong and Guangzhou and arrived in Beijing by train. Under Zhou Enlai's arrangement, Li Weihan, Minister of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee, came forward to discuss with Song Yishan. Li Weihan proposed four specific conditions for cooperation by the CCP: (1) The two parties can achieve peaceful reunification through reciprocal negotiations; (2) Taiwan can As an autonomous region under the central government, it enjoys a high degree of autonomy; (3) the power in Taiwan is still under the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek, and the CCP will not send people to participate, while the Kuomintang can send people to Beijing to participate in the leadership of the central government; (4) US military forces withdraw from the Taiwan Strait. After Song Yishan returned to Hong Kong, he wrote a report of more than 10,000 words and gave it to Chiang Kai-shek. 由于报告对大陆的成就颇多赞扬之词，蒋介石大为不悦。 In addition, the anti-rightist struggle on the mainland had already begun at this time. Chiang Kai-shek believed that the time for negotiations between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party was not ripe, so he suspended further contacts.

The second secret peace talks, Cao Juren visited the grave of Chiang Kai-shek's mother. In July 1956, when Zhang Shizhao was leading the way for the peace talks between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, another mysterious figure also came to Beijing from Hong Kong with the same mission. This mysterious figure was Cao Juren. Cao Juren was a well-known scholar in old China and had deep friendships with senior figures in the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. Cao Juren returned to the mainland, and Zhou Enlai hosted a banquet for him in the Summer Palace. On October 3, Mao Zedong met with Cao Juren in Zhongnanhai. When talking about Chiang Kai-shek, Mao Zedong affirmed Chiang Kai-shek's role in certain historical periods and expressed his readiness to shake hands with Chiang Kai-shek again. After returning to Hong Kong, Cao Juren immediately informed the Kuomintang of the details. In May 1957, according to Taiwan's instructions, Cao Juren returned to the mainland for the second time and visited Chiang's mother's grave on behalf of the Chiang family and his son. After returning to Hong Kong, Cao Juren immediately informed Chiang Ching-kuo about his trip to the mainland and sent the photos he took at Xikou. In another letter, he also expressed his views on the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party again. However, the Kuomintang adopted an attitude toward re-negotiation that neither allowed Cao Juren to give up nor expressed a specific position, and delayed it for several years. In 1965, when Li Zongren, the second-ranking figure of the Kuomintang, returned to the mainland and was warmly welcomed, Chiang Kai-shek and his son also took action. Wang Jun, who often traveled between Hong Kong and Taipei for liaison work, informed Cao Juren that Chiang Ching-kuo would visit Hong Kong in person in the near future and take him to Taiwan to discuss important matters. Cao Juren hurriedly flew to Beijing, discussed the outline of the negotiations with the leaders of the Communist Party of China, and then returned to Hong Kong to wait for Chiang Ching-kuo. One day, Wang Jun came to Cao Juren's residence and asked him to get on the boat to have a secret talk with Mr. Jiang Jingguo. Chiang Ching-kuo asked Cao Juren to introduce more about the situation in Beijing, hoping that Cao Juren would have a thorough understanding of the situation on both sides so that the meeting and conversation between Cao and Chiang Kai-shek could be short and efficient. Soon, the ship arrived in Taiwan. Chiang Kai-shek, accompanied by Chiang Ching-kuo, met Cao Juren at his official residence and started talking in extreme secrecy. The whole conversation was between the three of them. After several discussions, six consensuses were quickly reached, the main contents of which are: 1. Chiang Kai-shek can return to the mainland with his old troops and settle in any province other than Zhejiang Province and still serve as the president of the Kuomintang. Beijing proposed to allocate the Lushan area in Jiangxi Province to Tangmuyi where Chiang Kai-shek lived and worked (meaning the living and working place of Taiwan's top executive in mainland China). 2. Chiang Ching-kuo was appointed governor of Taiwan. In addition to handing over Taiwan's diplomacy and military affairs, Beijing only insists that in agriculture there must be land for every farmer. Other government affairs will be completely handled by the Taiwan Provincial Government for a period of 20 years, and negotiations will be held at the end of the period. 3. Taiwan shall not accept any assistance from the United States. If there are financial difficulties, Beijing will allocate subsidies according to the amount of US support. 4. Taiwan’s navy and air force were merged into Beijing’s control. The Army was reduced to four divisions, one of which was stationed in Xiamen and Kinmen, and three divisions were stationed in Taiwan. 5. Xiamen and Kinmen will be merged into a free city to serve as a buffer and liaison area between Beijing and Taipei. The mayor of the city is concurrently served by the garrison division commander. This division commander is appointed by Taipei with the consent of Beijing. His qualifications should be Army Lieutenant General and politically acceptable to Beijing. 6. The ranks and remuneration of current Taiwanese officials remain unchanged. People's livelihood security can only be improved, not lowered. Afterwards, Cao Juren immediately returned to Hong Kong and reported the negotiation status and the six conditions to the Communist Party of China. However, the Cultural Revolution broke out in mainland China in 1966, which also affected Taiwan. Chiang Kai-shek had doubts about the resumption of negotiations between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, so he changed his mind. The resumption of negotiations between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party was once again shelved.

The Third Secret Peace Talks: Chen Lifu invited Mao Zedong to visit Taiwan. In the early 1970s, the Kuomintang representatives were expelled from the United Nations, the issuance of the Sino-US "Joint Communiqué" in Shanghai, and the improvement of Sino-Japanese relations. These major events caused Taiwan's situation to take a turn for the worse, and the situation was very favorable to the mainland. Therefore, Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai put the peaceful settlement of the Taiwan issue on their agenda. When the Kuomintang and the Communist Party resume negotiations, they still need someone who can speak on both sides to liaise. Since Cao Juren died of illness in 1972, there was suddenly no candidate in this field. Therefore, the 90-year-old Zhang Shizhao once again asked Ying to go to Hong Kong to contact the Kuomintang. Zhou Enlai felt very embarrassed when he learned of Zhang Shizhao's thoughts. Because Zhang Shizhao fell off a hospital bed a few years ago and suffered a fracture, he has been unable to move and can only rely on a wheelchair. How could we travel long distances under such circumstances? So Zhou Enlai reported the matter to Mao Zedong. Mao Zedong repeatedly weighed the situation and believed that Zhang Shizhao's role could not be replaced by others, so he proposed: "If we were better prepared, could we go? For example, send a special plane to go." Finally, with the consent of Zhang Shizhao's family, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to send Zhang Shizhao to Hong Kong. After careful arrangements, in May 1973, Zhang Shizhao took a special plane from Beijing to Hong Kong. Zhou Enlai personally went to the airport to see him off. Less than a month after Zhang Shizhao arrived in Hong Kong, he unfortunately died of illness in Hong Kong on July 1 due to frequent activities, excessive excitement, discomfort with the Hong Kong climate, and his advanced age. Although Zhang Shizhao died before leaving the army, his activities in Hong Kong had a great impact. Because the Chinese Communist Party had repeatedly issued peace talks proposals and invitations, and out of concern for Taiwan's future, Chiang Kai-shek had the idea of ​​re-opening negotiations with the Chinese Communist Party. During the Spring Festival of 1975, Chiang Kai-shek handed over this mission to Chen Lifu, a veteran of the Kuomintang who had presided over secret negotiations between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party before the Anti-Japanese War. After Chen Lifu accepted the mission, he sent a message to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China inviting Mao Zedong to visit Taiwan through secret channels. Perhaps Chiang Kai-shek knew that his time was running out, or perhaps Chen Lifu was in an urgent mood. When the Chinese Communist Party had not yet responded, Chen Lifu wrote the article "If I Were Mao Zedong" and published it in a Hong Kong newspaper. In the article, he warmly welcomed Mao Zedong or Zhou En to visit Taiwan and reopen the path of negotiation with Chiang Kai-shek to benefit the country and the people. He especially hoped that Mao Zedong could ignore the past grudges, follow the precedent of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party cooperation during the Northern Expedition and the Anti-Japanese War, shake hands and smile, and create a new situation for cooperation again. However, the main leaders of the two parties at that time were unable to see the emergence of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party again. Chiang Kai-shek died in April 1975 shortly thereafter. A year and a half later, Mao Zedong also passed away.