Beware of Pickpockets*
(May 23, 1941)

Since the war situation in southern Shanxi became critical, soldiers and civilians throughout the country have without exception been steeling themselves and striving with vigour, and those who fondly imagined that the Japanese aggressors' war against China could end inconclusively in the old way now show signs of awakening from their dreams. Men of insight all believe that China's great cause of resistance may perhaps take a turn from the long-standing creeping pace of the past and begin to advance rapidly.

But the complex international and domestic political relations still do not permit us to become so optimistic right away. A host of problems still confront us and demand our serious vigilance and close attention. Among them, one question in particular provides food for thought: Now that Britain and the United States are thrown into a fluster by Germany, has the Far Eastern Munich plot of sacrificing China in exchange for Japanese concessions been finally abandoned? In the present combined assault on China—Japan's recent new offensives plus massive bombing—is the "appeasement" tune of selling out the Chinese people being played once again, the same old stuff with a different label? It would be dangerous to become simply optimistic without taking such questions into account.

As □□□ has said, Britain and the United States have never shown any genuine willingness to aid China. Even people who usually have the closest contacts with Britain now have to admit that there is a crisis of British appeasement of Japan; but it is a pity that many people are still unaware of the true face of the American "friend". Especially since the Tripartite Pact, the United States seems to be making some effort to aid China. Although such aid is a drop in the bucket compared with China's needs, and falls far short of the aid given by the Soviet Union, nevertheless, voices calling for friendship with the United States and support to the United States already ring loud and fill the ears, both in and out of office. Naturally, these gentlemen have eyes for what they want to see, but they certainly have not seen what they ought to see. The United States has lifted its embargo on the export of zinc and rubber to Japan, the Netherlands Indies have concluded an oil agreement with Japan under American influence, and pro-Japanese elements are actively engaged in machinations in Japan—all this shows that although the authorities in both the United States and Japan have been bartering fierce words, these are just words and "policy" is still policy. If the United States' support to Japan is in fact greater than its support to China, who dares to conclude that the American gesture of aid to China is not, just like Japan's gesture of southward expansion, simply a necessary manoeuvre to seek a U.S.-Japanese compromise? Who dares to conclude that, if the Far Eastern Munich plot is revived, our idol-worshippers throughout the country will escape the tragic end of the hare being boiled after the hounds are spent?

The existence of such a crisis is unhappily confirmed by the statement released by the Chinese authorities on May 11 through the American United Press, saying that if Japan also wanted peace she must present her terms through the United States, by the Soviet press revelation on May 18 that Japan was mediating to end the Sino-Japanese war "through the United States", and by Yosuke Matsuoka's reception on May 19 at his private residence of Joseph C. Grew, the U.S. Ambassador to Japan, of whom the Japanese Director of the Intelligence Bureau said that he was "extremely benevolent". We believe that having heroically fought the war for four years and possessing such powerful anti-Japanese masses, anti-Japanese political parties and anti-Japanese armed forces, the Chinese nation cannot and will not allow itself to be sold out. No Chinese leader who has moral integrity and self-respect will ever willingly become a second Wang Ching-wei and follow the same road to utter ruin and desertion by his followers, even if a U.S.-Japanese compromise should become a fact. But the more confidence we have in smashing such a plot, the more necessary it is to smash it. We would like to alert all soldiers and civilians in the country: On our road to victory, not only are thorny thickets growing in profusion, but pickpockets are lurking by the roadside all the time, watching for their chance to snatch away the fruits of our struggle while we are off guard. We need to be more vigilant towards pickpockets who wear the mask of friends!

We have this in all seriousness to say to the U.S. authorities and those gentlemen in the Kuomintang who follow the lead of the United States: The Chinese people do not hesitate for a moment to welcome U.S. aid to China in the war of resistance, and the more, the faster and the more substantial this aid, the better. "Is it not delightful to have friends coming from distant quarters?" The Chinese people have always known how to treat friends as friends. But they likewise know how to deal with pickpockets and their accomplices. Isn't this in conformity with the "Fair Play"

that you are so fond of parading? The Chinese people have in truth grown into solid rocks, but you obstinately say they are still rubber balls; if you must kick them aside, please try and see. Yet, beware of hurting your own noble toes. The Chinese people will fight on tenaciously—until the day of victory over Japanese imperialism!