STEP TO UNITY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21809, 4 September 1945, Page 3

STEP TO UNITY

REGIMES IN CHINA SURRENDER PACT COMMUNISTS & CHIANG NORTH CHINA ARMIES (10 a.m.) CHUNGKING, Sept. 3. General Chiang Kai-shek will permit the Japanese armies in north China to surrender to the Chinese Communist Army in the first important step toward Communist and National Government unity, reports the North American newspaper Alliance’s correspondent. The order is expected to be announced within a few days. It will mean that the Communists will receive arms belonging, it is estimated, to 500,000 Japanese in Shansi, Honan, Shantung, Hopeh and border areas. An attempt it is reported, will be made to synchronise the surrender of these Japanese troops with the surrender to the Government commanders following the formal Japanese capitulation at Nanking.

The surrender agreement for the north China areas is the outcome of a week of closed conferences between General Chiang and General Mao Tzetung who arrived from Yenan for the first personal talks with General Chiang since 1927. Way Paved for Compromises The agreement is expected to pave the way for other compromises leading eventually to a reconciliation. The Government concession came after General Mao's strong representations that the Japanese surrender in the east and the Communists control of the surrender was the pre-requisite of any political settlement. General Mao is quoted as saying that the Communists do not intend to use the surrendered arms for internal lighting because they were absolutely opposed to civil war. Japanese troops around Ichang surrendered yesterday. The Chungking Government proclaimed the suspension of conscription throughout the nation for a year and also exempted all areas recovered from the Japanese from land tax for a year. The Kuo Min Tang promised that constitutional government would be restored at an early date. Greater unity and solidarity were needed for the ail important task of reconstruction. China is having a three-day victory holiday.