WHAT THE KUOMINTANG LACKS
17 June 1941

[Text] What does the Kuomintang lack? Airplanes and artillery? Cadre
talents? The method to resist Japan? True, none of these things is in
ample supply. But what it lacks most is the confidence of the nation.

Certain gentlemen of the Kuomintang often revile others (especially the
Communist Party) for lacking the concept of the state and the nation.
However, since the Communist Party and the people have never been negative toward the resistance war and national liberation, no matter how
novel the theories of these gentlemen or how extensive their articles,
one will only find the waste of paper alarming and incompatible with the
thrift movement advocated by Mr Chiang Kai-shek. But just how much
reserve is left in the treasury of their own concept of the state and
the nation is doubtful. We will not gloat over the misfortunes of
others. We can only solemnly advise those gentlemen: Please take care
of yourselves, and add more weight to it! It will be beneficial to you
and to us, and to the state and the nation most beloved by you and us.

Please think it over calmly. How far have you gone in flattering and
depending on America? We do not ask you to give up your illusions
about America, because it involves the freedoms of thought and speech.
But Confucius said: Let the words be adequate to express the idea;
excess is the same as inadequacy. You arbitrarily claim that China and
England are the left and right wings of America and that the Han River
and the English Channel are both its frontiers. What's the need of that?
You also claim that America and China have transcended the relationship
of allies. We wish to inquire what obligation as an ally, since the
beginning of history, has America ever performed for China? Yet, the
relationship of allies has been transcended! What kind of intimate
relationship is it? Just because little Captain Roosevelt came to China
and acquired a few sworn brothers, do you flatter them to the skies?
But the curve on the graph representing the military supply trade
between America and Japan is shooting up into the clouds. You take
Hull's sheet of empty words as a Buddhist charm, while they are

discussing with Nomura the matter of ordering China to stop the war. It
seems that China has, at whatever time, entered America's pocketbook
altogether! This is truly transcending the relationship of allies, and
the Han River can truly be considered the Mississippi.

Is it impossible not to rely on America? At least, do not rely on the
America of Mars! No matter how Pao Hsu and others weep their hearts out
and stand at the gate of the U.S. State Department for weeks on end, the
America on Earth can only move its Pacific fleet to the Atlantic at
present. Yet you--you once placed all your hopes on a war between Japan
and the Soviet Union. Now you place your hopes on a war between Japan
and America. You don't care that, from the high heavens to the depth
of the earth, no trace of a war between Japan and America is found on
today's daily agenda. We wish to ask you: If, unfortunately, America's
compromise should become a fact, how would you conclude your comedy?
When the people blame you for practicing a planned deception in your
action today, how can you deny it? Even if the compromise between Japan
and America does not succeed, what royal favors has America granted us
to make our noble and struggling great nation so degraded, to make us
lose our national and personal integrity to such an extent? Just how
much national concept is in all your propaganda? On which page and
which chapter of Mr Sun Yat-sen's nationalism are they based? Under
what dictionary definition of Mr Chiang Kai-shek's slogan of self-revitalization?

Please think it over again calmly. How far have you gone in your
destruction and suppression, your rumormongering and false accusations
against the Communist Party and the people? To handle the Communist
Party and the people, what a gigantic structure you have built! This
structure is growing bigger and bigger, like the pitiful Arab and the
camel in the fable, squeezing all other functions of the resistance-war
government out of the tent. Whether in ancient times or today, whether
here or abroad, adopting such a policy when the powerful enemy is
pressing in on us is not prospering or building the nation; it can only
damage and destroy the nation. How can you not understand this simple
truth? Yet, since you regard strangers as compatriots and dream of
building your national center in the New York Stock Exchange, naturally
you consider your compatriots as strangers, and naturally you fail to
see the unlimited power and unlimited future of the nation in the
people. Moreover, "one foot of cloth can still be sewn; one peck of
rice can still be hulled; two brothers cannot tolerate each other."
You wish to treat your own countrymen as sworn enemies! How brave you
were in the southern Anhwei incident and the many kinds of anticommunist
activities! How creative and positive when you fabricate rumors and
manufacture all kinds of anticommunist public opinion! Since you do not
hesitate to brand the people and the people's vanguard as bandits and
rebels, how can you have any confidence in the nation? Though we suffer
all kinds of intolerable hostility on your part, as long as you continue
the resistance war the Communist Party and the people will cherish you

and remain cooperative. Unfortunately, you seem to lack even this kind
of confidence. Since you do not trust others, or even yourselves, just
how much national concept do you have? On which page and which chapter
of Mr Sun Yat-sen's nationalism are they based? Under what dictionary
definition of Mr Chiang Kai-shek's slogan of self-revitalization?

"This faithless and perverse world? Verily I say unto you: If you have
faith like a mustard seed, in regard to this mountain, if you wish to
move it from here to there, it will be moved, and there is nothing which
you cannot do." Today, when the national confidence is so cruelly
trampled upon, we cannot but borrow the words of Jesus to present to the
Kuomintang. Many in the Kuomintang have been very pessimistic recently,
and they even know that relying on America is not the way out. They
wonder why the Communist Party gains greater victories under more difficult conditions. No matter how unfavorable the domestic and international environment, the Communist Party remains impregnable and steady
and progresses. What secret does it have? Its entire secret is its
faith in the nation and the people of China; therefore, it always struggles alongside the great masses of the entire nation and does not rely
on foreign countries, especially the imperialists. Nevertheless, for
what reason is the Kuomintang unable to raise its national confidence,
unable to trust the people and itself, but has to worship the scheming
imperialist conspirators? Many "theorists" of the Kuomintang say that,
among the three principles of democracy, nationalism is the most needed
at present. This probably is the so-called ideology. For what reason
is the Kuomintang unable to adhere to this one ideology with its entire
effort? As long as the Kuomintang can firmly raise its national confidence and firmly wage the national independence war, all its difficulties
can be solved, and its future will remain bright.

CHIEH-FANG JIH-PAO, 17 June 1941