1. There are only two kinds of people who bitterly resent the New Fourth Army’s victories: the Japanese aggressors and Chiang Kai-shek of China.
It goes without saying that the Japanese detest us.
As for Chiang Kai-shek, there are two things he has done that have been most welcome to the Japanese aggressors: one is his anti-Communist activities, and the other is “The Destiny of China.”
Among Chiang Kai-shek’s countless anti-Communist actions, none was more pleasing to the Japanese than his treacherous plot to attack the New Fourth Army, arrest General Ye Ting[2], and declare the New Fourth Army a “rebel force.”
In the spring of 1941, when Chiang Kai-shek perpetrated this heinous act of sabotaging the War of Resistance, endangering the nation, and betraying the Chinese people, the Japanese Domei News Agency even praised him, saying: “Chiang Kai-shek has not done anything worthwhile in recent years, but dissolving the New Fourth Army was indeed a good move.”
No matter how Japan and Chiang Kai-shek conspired to harm the New Fourth Army, the New Fourth Army continued to grow stronger and kept winning battles.


2. Even today, Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang reactionaries are still resorting to their old tricks, constantly emphasizing their so-called “unification of military and political orders.”
But this so-called “unification” means nothing other than ordering the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army to be “abolished within a specified time” by four-fifths, while the remaining one-fifth is to be “concentrated for use.”
Everyone can see that such a “unification” would not really bring power into Chiang Kai-shek’s hands; rather, it would effectively “unify” all these forces under Japanese control. For once four-fifths of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army have been “abolished,” and the remaining one-fifth has been “concentrated,” does not that mean more than four-fifths of China’s liberated territory will have been “unified” under Japanese rule? What an excellent scheme to serve the Japanese! The Emperor’s imperial edict of commendation is beyond doubt.
However, the Chinese people will never allow such a treacherous conspiracy, nor will the Eighth Route Army or the New Fourth Army.
Take the New Fourth Army alone: it has now become the Great Wall of the people of Central China, an inseparable part of their very flesh and blood.
To annihilate it or drive it away—neither the Japanese nor any reactionary forces could possibly accomplish this.


Printed from the original documents preserved in the Central Archives.


Notes: These are several paragraphs added and revised by Mao Zedong when he reviewed the editorial of the Liberation Daily titled “The New Fourth Army’s Victorious Offensives and China’s Cause of National Salvation” (published on October 1, 1944).
(Originally published on October 1, 1944) Several passages were added and rewritten at that time.


Section One consists entirely of additions made by Mao Zedong; Section Two is mostly composed of additions and revisions by Mao Zedong.


[2] Ye Ting (1896–1946), native of Huiyang, Guangdong.
He served as commander of the New Fourth Army starting in October 1937. In January 1941, during the Southern Anhui Incident instigated by Chiang Kai-shek, he was detained.
Notes: These are several paragraphs added and revised by Mao Zedong when he reviewed the editorial of the Liberation Daily titled “The New Fourth Army’s Victorious Offensives and China’s Cause of National Salvation” (published on October 1, 1944).
Section One consists entirely of additions made by Mao Zedong; Section Two is mostly composed of additions and revisions by Mao Zedong.
[2] Ye Ting (1896–1946), native of Huiyang, Guangdong.
He served as commander of the New Fourth Army starting in October 1937. In January 1941, during the Southern Anhui Incident launched by Chiang Kai-shek, he was taken into custody.