Q3: Why was the CPC the mainstay of Chinese united resistance?

A: The War of Resistance was a people’s war involving the whole Chinese nation. The CPC developed a number of theories, policies, and principles, offered creative answers to questions of fundamental significance to the eventual outcome of the War of Resistance, developed a vast battleground behind enemy lines, and gave the Chinese people hope that they could save their nation.

The CPC advocated for the establishment of the Chinese united front against Japan. It pooled the strength of the whole nation to join the resistance against imperial foreign aggression.

As a forward thinking party with the strongest capacity for political organization in China, the CPC was the first to propose that China should engage in armed resistance against Japanese aggression and establish a Chinese united front against Japan. The CPC also brought about a peaceful settlement of the Xi’an Incident, which helped establish the framework for the united front.

Following the outbreak of the nationwide War of Resistance, the CPC continued to work tirelessly to secure the official establishment of the Chinese united front, encouraging the whole nation to resist foreign aggression. It drew up the Ten-Point Program for thoroughly defeating the Japanese and systematically formulated the line of the whole nation waging a full-scale War of Resistance and the underlying strategy of waging a protracted war. In his book On Protracted War, Mao Zedong analyzed the circumstances China was in and the characteristics of China and Japan and discussed how the War of Resistance might evolve. His analysis argued that the prospects looked good, and that final victory would go to China. To a large extent, his ideas helped mobilize all of China’s soldiers and civilians to create a people’s war against Japanese aggression.

The War of Resistance pitted the weak against the strong. The CPC adopted a creative strategy, elevating guerrilla warfare against Japanese aggression to a strategic position and formulating a complete set of programs, principles, and policies for creating a backstage war. The soldiers and civilians led by the CPC behind enemy lines effectively pinned down and eliminated large numbers of Japanese and collaborationist troops. The people’s counter-Japanese armed forces won great popular support, and expanded and grew until becoming the main force of the resistance. Likewise, the vast backstage battleground grew to become the main battleground of the War of Resistance, with guerrilla warfare playing a major strategic role in the protracted war of resistance.

The democratic counter-Japanese base areas created by the CPC were also significant in securing final victory in the War, as they provided long-term support for guerrilla warfare and nationwide resistance.

The CPC drew on a spirit of honor and exemplary action to encourage the whole population to develop a sense of determination in resisting Japanese aggression and a belief that their resistance would ultimately prevail.