Speech at a Meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China[1]

(January 20, 1941)

Regarding the current development of the situation, we must consider it from the root. Since Chiang Kai-shek declared the New Fourth Army a "rebel army" on the 17th, Chiang has in fact already prepared to offend us and offend the Soviet Union, already prepared for the beginning of a complete rupture. Chiang has broken the rupture first, so all sympathy and justification lie on our side. To save the situation and bring about a turn for the better, the statement by the spokesman of the Military Affairs Commission of the National Government on the 17th must be revoked.

[1] This is part of Mao Zedong's speech at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.