The Areas Occupied by the Japanese
Military in Central and Eastern Henan
Are Relatively Well-Suited for the
Establishment of Base Areas1
(June 18, 1945)
Party Committee of Henan Region:
According to telegrams we have received, it seems that Mount Funiu is not
occupied by the enemy and that Hu Zongnan will use all his strength to get it, so
the possibility of our Party establishing a firm base area there is apparently
extremely small. But the vast enemy-occupied territories in central and eastern
Henan, where it would be better to establish base areas, have not yet been
opened. Therefore, please consider the problems of essential deployment and
which place in the end would be better. There is only about another year or a
year and a half before the Japanese bandits’ defeat and the Guomindang’s
counteroffensive. If our Party loses this time, it will be difficult for us to establish
ourselves in Henan later. Besides, the Guomindang is adopting a
nonconfrontational policy with regard to the Japanese bandits but a firm policy
of war toward us, and its fighting capacity must not be underestimated. Please
consider this situation and respond by telegram. With regard to the Gao
Shuxun’s2 troops and other miscellaneous troops, we must strive for their
neutrality. Toward any Guomindang troops we must maintain a self-defensive
stance.
The Central Committee

Notes
Our source for this document is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 2, pp. 799–800, where it is reproduced from
Mao Zedong’s handwritten manuscript preserved in the Central Archives.
1. This is a telegram to the Party Committee of the Henan Region drafted by Mao Zedong on behalf of the
Central Committee of the Communist Party.
2. Gao Shuxun (1897–1972) was commander-in-chief of the Thirty-ninth Army Group and commander of
the New Eighth Army of the Nationalist army.