The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression is the first national
liberation war that the Chinese people won a complete victory in resisting the
invasion of the foreign capitalist-imperialism over a process of 100 years,
which marked the historical turning point of the Chinese nation from declination
to rejuvenation. In this surging and magnificent nationwide war of resistance
against aggression, the Communist Party of China (CPC) safeguarded the basic
rights and interests of the Chinese nation, undertook the historical important
mission, influenced, unified and led all the Chinese people to advance wave upon
wave and fought with sublime heroism to defeat the Japanese aggressors and to
win the great victory of the Anti-Japanese War, thus playing a mainstay role in
the historical process of striving for national independence and people's
liberation.
The CPC puts forward the political line of nationwide resistance
In the face of the powerful Japanese invaders, the Chinese people who
didn't want to be slaves of a foreign power all asked to fight against the
Japanese invaders. In view of the questions of how to mobilize and organize all
kinds of forces of the whole nation to plunge into the war of resistance and see
to it that the war develops towards a direction good for achieving victory by
the Chinese people, the CPC timely and correctly put forward the line of
resistance against the Japanese aggressors by way of arousing the masses to the
most extensive scale possible, arming the masses and relying on the masses to
fight Japanese invaders and carrying out an all-round resistance.
At the onset of the Anti-Japanese War, the Central Committee of the CPC
pointed out that the most profound source of the anti-Japanese strength lied in
the broad masses of the people. Only by mobilizing and organizing the people of
the country, could a strong "great wall" of the nationwide resistance against
aggression be forged and the final victory of the Anti-Japanese War be won. The
China's Anti-Japanese War must adopt the all-round and nationwide resistance and
mobilize manpower, materials and financial resources, and adjust the political,
economic, cultural, military and national defense policies to meet the needs of
the war of resistance.
The CPC initiated and established the Anti-Japanese National United
Front
In the wake of the "Sept. 18 Incident", the CPC came out first with the
proposal of establishing a national united front of resistance against Japanese
aggression, profoundly expounded the political proposition of driving out the
Japanese imperialism out of the Chinese territory with a national revolutionary
war. The CPC explicitly put forward that the CPC was willing to cooperate with
all the forces that had the wish of taking part in the cause of anti-Japanese
aggression and for national salvation, and laid down the strategic guideline of
establishing an Anti-Japanese National United Front. After the breakout of the
Xi'an Incident, with the consideration of the country and nation's future and
destiny, the CPC discarded the past enmity and proposed to solve the incident
peacefully resulting in boosting the realization of domestic peace. In order to
promote cooperation between the KMT and the CPC, the CPC made important
concessions on the basis of sticking to the principles and showed the resolution
and approach of uniting with all political forces and all the Chinese people to
resist the Japanese aggression with the utmost sincerity and concrete acts.
Under the adherence and promotion of the CPC, the Anti-Japanese National United
Front was formed formally, pushing the Anti-Japanese War of the whole nation to
a high tide.
The CPC formulated the strategic guideline of a protracted war
At the early stage of the Anti-Japanese War and at the critical moment when
scientific theoretical guidance was in great need, the CPC members with Mao
Zedong as the representative elaborated profoundly the guideline of military
strategy put forward by the CPC on the Anti-Japanese War, predicted
scientifically the rule of development of the war and stressed on the strategic
position of guerrilla war in the Anti-Japanese War and pointed out that the
people's war is the only correct road of winning the victory of the war. They
pointed out specifically that China should stick to active defense, protracted
war, to carrying out guerilla war and the building of revolutionary base in the
rear of the enemy, with "guerrilla war as the basic form, but mobile warfare
under favorable conditions should by no means be neglected". Practice testified
that the strategic guideline of protracted resistance was the only correct
guideline of the resisting Japanese invasion. The victory of the Anti-Japanese
War was the victory of the line of an all-round resistance, the victory of the
Anti-Japanese National United Front initiated by the CPC and likewise the
victory of the strategic guideline of protracted war and guerrilla war put up by
the CPC.
The CPC members were the vanguards and models of the national
liberation war
On all fronts of the national liberation, the CPC members were the most
active ones. They always charged to the forefront on the battlefield to kill the
aggressors, created cultural works to stir up the morale of the people and tried
to produce ample food and clothing with their own hands to overcome material
shortage.
Thanks to the vanguard and model roles of the broad CPC members, the armed
forces led by the CPC obtained brilliant results in the the Anti-Japanese War.
From November 1938 to the end of 1940, the anti-Japanese revolutionary bases in
North China pinned down over 500,000 Japanese troops. In 1942, the anti-Japanese
forces led by the CPC in North China and Central China tied down 550,000
Japanese troops. In the whole process of the Anti-Japanese War, the
anti-Japanese armed forces led by the CPC fought over 125,000 battles and
annihilated 1.714 million Japanese and puppet troops (of which, 527,000 were
Japanese trops), making decisive contributions to the victory of the
Anti-Japanese War.
By Xu Zhigong
(Aug. 29, PLA Daily)