Editing Zhou Enlai (section)

===Diplomacy===
On 21 January 1949, Chiang stepped down as president of the Nationalist government and was succeeded by General [[Li Zongren]]. On 1 April 1949, Li began a series of peace negotiations with a six-member CCP delegation. The CCP delegates were led by Zhou Enlai, and the KMT delegates were led by Zhang Zhizhong.<ref name="Barnouin and Yu 117">Barnouin and Yu 117</ref>

Zhou began the negotiations by asking: "Why did you go to Xikou (where Chiang had retired) to see Chiang Kai-shek before leaving Nanjing?" Zhang responded that Chiang still had power, even though he had technically retired, and that his consent would be needed to finalize any agreement. Zhou responded that the CCP would not accept a bogus peace dictated by Chiang and asked whether Zhang had come with the necessary credentials to implement the terms desired by the CCP. Negotiations continued until 15 April, when Zhou produced a "final version" of a "draft agreement for internal peace", which was essentially an ultimatum to accept CCP demands. The KMT government did not respond after five days, signaling that it was not prepared to accept Zhou's demands.<ref name="BY118">Barnouin and Yu 118</ref>

On 21 April, Mao and Zhou issued an "order to the army for country-wide advance". PLA troops captured Nanjing on 23 April and captured Li's stronghold of [[Guangdong]] in October, forcing Li to go into exile in America. In December 1949, PLA troops captured [[Chengdu]], the last KMT-controlled city on mainland China, forcing Chiang to evacuate to [[Taiwan]].<ref name="BY118" />