Directive on the Question of Our North China Troops Coordinating with the Kuomintang in Operations Against Japan and Other Issues

(May 14, 1941)

Comrade Enlai, and to be relayed to Dehuai:

(1) All telegrams have been noted.

(2) Instructions have already been sent to the front to coordinate in operations.

(3) Commander-in-Chief Zhu has already telegraphed Xiong Bin and Wei Lihuang, expressing unity against the enemy. I have already telegraphed Wu Yongfu [1] and Yuan Xiaoxuan to convey this intention to all sides.

(4) It is judged that after this blow, the Kuomintang cannot but seek to curry favor with us. The status of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party will undergo a fundamental change, and our Party will increasingly occupy the position of leadership in the War of Resistance.

(5) The Chief Adviser [2] and personages outside the Party must be told: Since the fall of Wuhan, for two and a half years, Japan’s policy has been mainly to oppose the Communists while relaxing pressure on the Kuomintang, in order to facilitate inducement to capitulation. Therefore, for two and a half years, the Kuomintang has fought very little against Japan. Like Japan, it has mainly opposed the Communists while relaxing its efforts against Japan, launching two anti-Communist upsurges that destroyed its own protective bulwark to show Japan, hoping that Japan would not attack further. This policy is fundamentally erroneous. Our Party, on the other hand, has not a single day without fighting Japan. In response to the current offensive, we have again decided to coordinate in operations. Army Minister Tojo stated in the Diet in January this year that the Chongqing government has fought no battles since the winter offensive the year before last, and that only the Communist Army has mounted effective counter-offensives. This is the evidence.

(6) Dehuai has already been telegraphed, asking him to thoroughly consider the situation and adopt proactive and planned coordination

[1] Wu Yongfu, i.e., Wu Yunfu.
[2] The Chief Adviser, i.e., Soviet Adviser Chuikov.

actions, but absolutely not to be provoked into rash action by the Kuomintang’s taunting tactics. This point must also be conveyed to the Chief Adviser, asking him not to speak recklessly. The Kuomintang to this day still spreads lies that our army “roams without fighting,” and even says that we are compromising with Japan. They will continue to utter such nonsense in the future. We must absolutely not be swayed by these lies. We shall always conduct operations proactively, resolutely, and step by step.

(7) Li Pinxian’s base area, Lihuang County [1], has already been emptied. Luoyang and Xi’an are relocating one after another in utter panic, which is both infuriating and laughable.

Mao Zedong

Hanyou

[1] Lihuang County, county name, present-day Jinzhai County.