Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong at the Chongqing negotiations, a series of negotiations between the KMT and CCP from 29 August to 10 October 1945. 

These negotiations ended in the Double Tenth Agreement, in which both parties presented a united front and agreed to form a coalition government to avoid civil war. However, both parties were unconvinced by the agreement, and civil war soon returned.  

An English translation of a report on an interview with Mao from July-August 1944 in the newspaper Ta Kung Pao. Catalogue ref: WO 208/485 

Translated article called ‘Inside Yenan’ written by a member of the Overseas Chinese department in the Kuomintang Headquarters, sent for publication in The New Republic, a newspaper published by the KMT in Canada. August 1944. Catalogue ref: WO 208/485 

The Overseas Chinese department took care of affairs concerning the Chinese population who lived outside of China’s borders. There were KMT headquarters in countries around the world, including the US and Canada. The New Republic was the official newspaper of the Canadian KMT branch. This article was written to inform Chinese people living in Canada about the Communist-controlled area of China (from a KMT perspective). 

Telegram reporting on an editorial called ‘Without Democracy There Will Not Be Peaceful Reconstruction’ in the Yenan Paper ‘Emancipation Daily’, commemorating the 34th anniversary of the Chinese Revolution of 1911. Catalogue ref: WO 208/4398 

Yenan (Yan’an) was the capital of the Communist-controlled area of China and ‘Emancipation Daily’ was a newspaper produced by the Chinese Communist Party.  

Map: ‘Areas of Communist Activity in China’ from Harrison Forman: ‘Report from Red China’, June 1945. Catalogue ref: WO 208/4398 

Harrison Forman (1904-1978) was an American photographer and journalist. He wrote for ‘The New York Times’ and ‘National Geographic’. During the Second World War he reported from China and interviewed Mao Zedong. 

TNA Catalogue Ref: CJ4/12228

TNA Catalogue Ref: PREM 49/412

TNA Catalogue Ref: PREM 49/412

TNA Catalogue Ref: FCO 87/3596

A letter from US Senator George Mitchell to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair on 30 April 1998, soon after the signing of the Agreement.

Context notes

Mitchell was a US Senator who had a deep interest in Northern Ireland. President Clinton appointed him as US Special Envoy in 1995 to be an independent figure in the Northern Ireland peace process. He became the Co-Chairman of the Northern Ireland Peace Talks, an important figure in the talks which eventually led to the Agreement. His job was to be an independent and impartial individual who could help to resolve disputes. He was best known for his work in negotiating the decommissioning of paramilitary forces. However, he also worked with the political parties, persuading them to accept the Mitchell Principles. These were a set of limits on political parties, the most important of which was that unless they renounced violence they would not have any role in any of the talks or negotiations. The letter was written a few days after the Belfast (Good Friday Agreement) was agreed.