BATTLE IN PEIPING

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 55, 3 September 1945, Page 6

BATTLE IN PEIPING

COMMUNISTS AND JAPANESE

NEW YORK, September 2. The Communist New China 'news agency says it is reported from Yenan [that Communist forces are battling • •with the Japanese in Peiping. Peiping 'is the former capital, Peking, and, | though modernised, remains the heart •of old China. A Chungking message states that the , Communist Party, after the arrival of • its leader, Mao Tze-tung, in Chungking, '' issued the terms on which it is pre--1 pared to reach an agreement with the Kuomintang and other democratic parties, says the "Daily Express" correspondent in Moscow. The Communists want Generalissimo Chiang Kai'shek first of all to recognise Govern-; ; ments elected by the people and anti- > Japanese troops in liberated. regions i and to withdraw Government troops \ attacking these regions; secondly, to [define the regions where Communist [armies shall receive the capitulation of [Japanese troops; thirdly, to punish ! traitors severely and to disband puppet | armies; fourthly, to demobilise 1 soldiers, aid refugees, and reduce taxal tion; fifthly, to legalise all parties, an- : nul laws infringing liberty, free .'patriots from prison, and abolish the 1 secret political police; and sixthly, to ; convene a conference to create a Government of national unity preparatory to the national assembly on a free universal franchise. Hong Kong radio broadcast RearAdmiral Harcourt's proclamation establishing a British military administration in Hong Kong and revoking ■ all Japanese orders issued during the occupation. The proclamation stipulated that all laws prior to the Japanese occupation would be respected and administered. Property rights would also be respected, with rights alleged to have been acquired during the occupation subject to investigation, and such action as justice might require.