that general was Zhang Xueliang, he was brainwashed by the CCP to commit that treacherous act. Chiang was a hero for leading China to hold out against 8 long years invasion against the superior Japanese army, and eventually won ww2 as a major allied power.
what about Mao Zedong ?
On 1 October 1949, Mao Zedong declared the creation of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The achievement of Mao Zedong as founding father of the PRC is, indeed, great. If we focus attention on this achievement alone, Mao Zedong can be described as “a man of great stature” who deserves to be respected.
It should be noted, however, that the PRC is a state that was ultimately created through victory in the Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang (KMT) forces led by Chiang Kai-shek and forces loyal to the Communist Party of China (CPC) and is not by any means a state created by defeating the Japanese Army in the Sino-Japanese War.
The proof of this is that Japan announced defeat on 15 August 1945, but it was 1 October 1949 that the PRC was founded. During this four-year period, the KMT and the CPC waged a fierce civil war. Accordingly, the PRC’s claim that the PRC is a state created by defeating the invading Japanese army is factually incorrect. Also, the myth that CPC forces fought valiantly with the Japanese army during the Sino-Japanese War is untrue.
On the contrary, during the Sino-Japanese War, Mao Zedong concentrated his efforts on conspiring with the Japanese army to weaken the KMT forces. He planted communist spies such as Pan Hannian in the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s local agency Maison Iwai and sold KMT military intelligence obtained from the National Government in Chongqing through the KMT-CPC Cooperation to the Japanese at a high price, creating an environment in which it was easy for the Japanese military to deal blows to the KMT forces.
And that is not all.
https://www.japanpolicyforum.jp/diplomacy/pt20160517095311.html