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

(April 11, 1942)

Enlai’s assessment of the situation in China is correct. Chiang Kai-shek’s policy is outwardly lenient but inwardly stringent, actively preparing for actions after the Pacific War. Now Chiang Ching-kuo[2] has already arrived in the Northwest. Chiang Kai-shek has now organized political offensives and military offensives against us, and we are preparing to deal with Chiang’s attacks. The next two years will be the most difficult period. The meeting agrees with Comrade Mao Zedong’s proposal that he will speak on the current situation at the Central Study Group next Monday.

[1] This is part of Mao Zedong’s speech on the current situation at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.
[2] Chiang Ching-kuo, then serving as a member of the Jiangxi Provincial Government of the Kuomintang, Commissioner of the Ganzhou Prefectural Commissioner’s Office, and concurrently Commander of the Security Forces in the Ganzhou area.