To Zhou Enlai[1]

(May 30, 1941)

The Roosevelt fireside chat[2] of the 27th still has a dual character, namely, pressing Germany to compromise and preparing for participation in the war. With regard to the East, it still harbours a conspiracy of Japanese-American compromise.

[1] This is the main content of Mao Zedong's telegram to Zhou Enlai.

[2] The fireside chat, also known as the fireside talk, was a method by which U.S. President Roosevelt delivered policy addresses at the time. On May 27, 1941, Roosevelt said in his fireside chat: "The first and fundamental policy of the United States is that when Hitler seeks to conquer and threaten the Western Hemisphere, the United States must actively counterattack in any region." He also said: "We cannot tolerate Hitler's domination of the world, nor can we tolerate the world of the 1920s that followed the last world war." Regarding Japanese-American relations, he said "it has not yet been studied."