—Question: How does Your Excellency view the current stage? Answer: Thanks to the Kuomintang leadership’s increasingly progressive understanding of the paramount importance of national unity and the enormity of the national crisis, coupled with the resolute calls from all sectors of the people and the Chinese Soviet Red Army to end the civil war, domestic peace has now begun to take shape. Thus has opened an extraordinary period in which the Chinese nation is uniting as one to prepare for the War of Resistance against Japan.  In this exceptional time, all compatriots should deeply recognize the gravity of their collective responsibility for national salvation; they should strive further to consolidate unity, never allowing themselves to be manipulated by the enemy’s divisive schemes, nor misled by the enemy’s sweet words. Rather, they ought to clearly grasp every step of the enemy’s offensive and work earnestly to genuinely secure the democratic rights of the people, so as to strengthen the nation’s overall strength.

Question: A small minority of our people seem to harbor illusions about Sato’s so‑called “peaceful diplomacy.” What is Your Excellency’s view?

Answer: To any discerning person, it is readily apparent that Sato’s so‑called “new policy” is nothing more than a vicious plot in disguise. As even the major newspapers in Tianjin and Shanghai have frequently pointed out, it is essentially a sugary syrup concealing a bitter poison. Such a description is indeed quite apt. The fact that a few individuals remain deluded by it may well be due to various complex factors; but, to put it briefly, the root cause lies in their failure to subordinate their own concerns to the overarching interests of the Chinese nation. Consequently, they tend to fear the prospect of armed resistance, thereby creating an opening for the enemy’s honeyed rhetoric to take effect. Although Sato has openly declared that his “new policy” is merely a change of tactics for implementing the Three Principles, the outward veneer of sweetness will still exert a certain allure upon those whose resolve is weak. We must fully comprehend the grave danger inherent in this situation.