Central Instructions on Friction in Hebei and Other Areas*
(February 10, 1939)
The enemy is currently attacking the anti-Japanese base areas in North China, including those in central Hebei, southern Hebei, Chahar-Hebei-Shanxi, and southeastern Shanxi. Meanwhile, within our own resistance front, extremely erroneous actions by Lu Zhonglin and Shen Honglie have triggered serious frictions and disputes, placing the North China resistance before immense difficulties and dangers. Therefore, the CPC Central Committee and the leaders of the Eighth Route Army put forward the following propositions: while engaging in negotiations with Chiang Kai-shek and other commanders, we should simultaneously uphold our own position.

(1) The current situation of the war behind enemy lines demands unity among the military, government, Party, and people. Command and local administration should be combined under a single high-ranking officer stationed in the area. The root cause of the friction in Hebei lies precisely in the lack of coordination between military and political authorities, sparked by Lu Zhonglin’s attempts to seize power and territory from the Eighth Route Army. Consequently, in order to achieve genuine unified command and administration, we must firmly demand Lu Zhonglin’s removal and appoint Zhu De as Commander-in-Chief of the Chahar-Hebei War Zone and concurrently Governor of Hebei, with Shi Yousan serving as his deputy. We must not allow Lu to act arbitrarily, thereby jeopardizing the resistance effort.

(2) The provinces of Hebei, Chahar, and Shandong serve as a barrier protecting Shanxi, the Central Plains, and Northwest China. Without the Eighth Route Army’s valiant resistance and its successful recapture of lost territories in these three provinces, both the Central Plains and the Northwest would be in grave danger, and even the current situation in Shanxi could not be maintained. To further develop guerrilla warfare in these three provinces and consolidate their anti-Japanese base areas, more units of the Eighth Route Army should be dispatched there; the number of Eighth Route Army troops in Hebei, Chahar, and Shandong must not be reduced under any circumstances. Otherwise, such a move would only benefit the enemy and harm our own cause. Moreover, the Eighth Route Army has been at the forefront of the resistance, effectively sweeping away puppet regimes and restoring legitimate Chinese authority, achieving remarkable results that are of great service to the nation. We must not allow ourselves to be misled by the confused reports of individuals like Lu Zhonglin or the treacherous propaganda of Wang Jingwei, thereby disrupting our strategic course and undermining the resistance.

(3) The current wartime conditions behind enemy lines have proven that establishing border regions is the correct approach; maintaining the existing provincial boundaries…