Wu Xiangping: Japanese Archives Substantiate the CPC’s Role as the Pillar [1] of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression
The victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was a great victory for the national spirit centered on patriotism; it was a great victory for the Communist Party of China (CPC) in playing its role as the pillar [1]; it was a great victory for the entire nation, united in will and courage; and it was a great victory for the Chinese people fighting side-by-side with the anti-fascist Allied powers and the peoples of all nations. Relevant Japanese archives from the war period once again confirm the CPC’s role as the pillar of the resistance and reveal the Japanese authorities’ true views of the CPC’s war efforts. These records, from an external perspective, refute the erroneous views that unilaterally glorify the Kuomintang’s (KMT) resistance while denying the status and role of the CPC.
The CPC "is China’s most potential political force"
The development and expansion of the CPC and the revolutionary forces under its leadership were consistently monitored by all sectors of Japan at the time. Prior to the Mukden Incident [2], the anti-Japanese thought of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army led by the CPC had already drawn the attention of Japanese colonial and aggressive institutions. In August 1929, the "Mantetsu" [3] clearly stated in its investigation report, History of the Chinese Proletarian Movement: "The most distinct characteristic of the proletarian movement under the leadership of the Communist Party of China is anti-imperialism."
Following the Mukden Incident, officials from the Intelligence Department of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs comprehensively collected information on the CPC and its revolutionary movement, compiling the Secret History of the Communist Party of China, 1932 for internal use. It noted: "The power of the Red Army under the leadership of the CPC is developing rapidly. Especially under the joint encirclement of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui, Central Hubei, and Southwest Hubei areas, Wuhan is like a solitary boat amidst ten thousand hectares of red waves."
After the January 28 Incident [4], the Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic issued a declaration of war against Japan, proposing to "lead the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army and the vast oppressed masses to expel Japanese imperialism from China through a national revolutionary war." The Japanese Toho National Policy Comrade Association noted in The China Incident and Our Awareness: Grasping the Essence of the Incident: "The CPC’s war of resistance has already transformed from a simple movement to mobilize the masses into a confident armed struggle."
In September 1933, the Japan Foreign Affairs Association stated in The Chinese Communist Movement: "A Red China with a population of 400 million and the boundless natural resources known as the 'granary of the world,' if allied with the Soviet Union and its vast territory, could trigger a great global upheaval for Japan." These Japanese internal investigation archives fully demonstrate that the vigorous development of the worker-peasant movement led by the CPC had already struck fear into the hearts of the Japanese invaders.
In September 1936, the "Mantetsu" Economic Research Association noted in its report The Current Stage of China’s Red Forces: "The Chinese Red power is a political force centered on the CPC and the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. Having developed for over a decade since its founding, the CPC already possesses a strong political status in China and is China’s most potential political force."
In November 1936, Yasuo Mishima of the Japan Diplomatic Association noted in New Research on the Red Army: "China’s war of resistance is attempting to establish a united people’s front centered on the Chinese Red Army." The Press Section of the Japanese Ministry of the Army further pointed out in the field report Current Affairs Reference: Regarding the Chinese Communist Army: "The existence of the CPC military has exerted a major influence on the Chinese revolutionary movement. As a special political force on equal footing with the Nanjing National Government, the CPC is advancing modern China in the direction of its ideals."
After the full-scale outbreak of the National War of Resistance, while launching a massive invasion of China, Japan also intensified its investigation into the resistance behind enemy lines, leaving behind many primary records. In September 1938, the Japanese Restoration Liaison House (Ishinryo) investigation manuscript Activities of the 'Communist Bandits' in Manchuria and China recorded: "The anti-Japanese forces in North and Northeast China led by the CPC are powerful and closely united with the broad masses. The CPC’s anti-Japanese thought has reached deep into the hearts of the people, possessing the revolutionary spirit of those willing to sacrifice their lives for the resistance." The manuscript also contains investigations into the anti-Japanese guerrilla zones led by the CPC in "South Manchuria," "East Manchuria," Hadong, Tangyuan, and Hailun, as well as the struggles in the Jin-Cha-Ji [5] anti-Japanese base area. It concluded that the anti-Japanese forces led by the CPC had formed a north-south resonance and should be the primary targets of Japan’s "punitive expeditions."
From the authentic records of Japanese archives, we can see that the CPC implemented a total mobilization of the whole people, practiced democracy, improved livelihoods, extensively mobilized and armed the masses, and proposed and consistently adhered to the line of people's war.
The CPC is Japan’s "focus of military suppression"
On July 7, 1937, Japan launched the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, initiating a full-scale war of invasion against China. On July 8, the CPC issued the Telegraph of the CPC Central Committee Regarding the Japanese Army’s Attack on Lugou Bridge, calling on the people of the whole country to unite, build a national united front, and jointly resist Japanese aggression. On July 15, CPC representatives including Zhou Enlai delivered the Declaration of the CPC Central Committee on the Publication of KMT-CPC Cooperation to Chiang Kai-shek. On September 22, the Central News Agency of the KMT published the declaration. The following day, Chiang Kai-shek issued a statement noting the necessity of unity against foreign aggression, effectively recognizing the legal status of the CPC. The publication of the declaration and Chiang’s statement marked the formal formation of the Second United Front between the KMT and the CPC, with the Chinese nation unprecedentedly united under the banner of the anti-Japanese national united front.
Faced with the rising national salvation movement of the Chinese people, the Japanese military focused on in-depth investigations into the anti-Japanese armed forces in North China led by the CPC. The Top Secret Intelligence Record No. 1 Army Intelligence No. 57 prepared by Okabe Naosaburo, Chief of Staff of the Japanese North China Area Army, revealed: "Starting in late October 1937, anti-Japanese guerrilla forces led by the Eighth Route Army [6] assembled in Guangping County, Hebei Province, launched attacks on Japanese troops stationed in Feixiang and Cheng'an... under the impetus of the CPC, the anti-Japanese sentiment of the people in Shanxi Province is soaring... anti-Japanese organizations such as the Justice Corps and the Sacrifice for National Salvation League are spread across every county and village, conducting an extensive anti-Japanese movement." To counter this, the Japanese military decided to use railways as pivot points, disperse units in key areas, and form a security road network to link mobile forces and garrison units, intending to "suppress" the guerrillas and destroy the anti-Japanese base areas.
The "Campaigns of Annihilation and Clearance," "Selection and Clearance Operations," "Public Security Restoration Operations," and "Public Security Strengthening Operations" repeatedly carried out by the Japanese army against CPC-led base areas were aimed at eliminating the CPC-led resistance. In the eyes of the Japanese invaders, public security could not be maintained without "exterminating the Communists." Therefore, they conducted large-scale "Three Alls" [7] operations against the base areas of the Eighth Route Army and New Fourth Army, the guerrilla zones, and all resistance forces, including the broad masses of soldiers and civilians.
On December 22, 1937, Okabe Naosaburo reported to Vice Minister of the Army Umezu Yoshijiro on the guiding principles for controlling North China, noting: "The local Japanese army must Exercise total control over occupied cities and the entire length of the railways... In North China, the focus of thorough 'suppression' is the CPC anti-Japanese guerrillas. Various methods must be used to conduct 'anti-Communist thought' propaganda... to sever the connection between the anti-Japanese guerrillas and the local people's organizations, achieving the goal of thorough 'elimination'." Following this directive, the North China Area Army formulated the Guidelines for the Implementation of Public Security Maintenance in Military Occupied Areas, emphasizing once more that "the focus of military suppression is the Communist Party, particularly the early and thorough crushing of areas covered by Communist ideology."
By early 1938, the Japanese invaders had successively occupied major cities in North China and controlled the railways and surrounding areas. Most of the KMT main forces had retreated, leaving only a portion of troops in southern Shanxi, resulting in a "vacuum" of power in North China. The Eighth Route Army dispatched the 115th, 129th, and 120th divisions to strike into the Wutai Mountains, Taihang Mountains, and Northwest Shanxi, establishing the Jin-Cha-Ji, Southern Hebei, and Northwest Shanxi anti-Japanese base areas. Under the leadership of local CPC organizations, the people of Shandong also launched guerrilla warfare, establishing the Central Shandong base area centered on Mount Tai and the Yimeng Mountains, laying the foundation for the four liberated areas in North China. The Eighth Route Army also sent forces eastward into the Hebei-Shandong-Henan, Shandong, and Central Hebei plains, and northward into the Daqingshan area of Suiyuan and northeastern Hebei, establishing further base areas.
Volume 90 of the War History Series: Army Operations in the China Incident (3), compiled by the War History Department of the National Defense Research Institute of the Japanese Defense Agency in 1975, records that in 1938, the Japanese military evaluated the CPC military as by no means a simple combat force, but a powerful political organizer—an armed force for achieving Communist political goals and a political force rooted in the masses.
After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, the anti-Japanese armed forces led by the CPC effectively filled the "vacuum" in North China following the retreat of KMT troops. The Japanese realized that the CPC-led armed forces were a massive potential threat and considered the CPC their true enemy. Based on their investigations and analysis of the CPC-led war effort, they adjusted their invasion strategy in North China accordingly.
"The Japanese army simply cannot compete with the CPC’s army"
Japanese archives show that the CPC-led armed forces possessed a broad social and mass base. They believed that the CPC-led guerrillas active behind enemy lines destroyed Japanese supply lines and posed a giant threat to occupied areas.
In February 1936, the "Mantetsu" Economic Research Association submitted the report The Current Stage of China’s Red Forces to the Japanese government, stating: "From the perspective of the developing strength of the CPC guerrilla units, the danger of 'Bolshevization' is great. For Japan, which bears responsibility for the 'stability' of the East, it should defend against Bolshevization together with the Nanjing National Government and curb the penetration of Soviet influence into the Far East." Explaining why Japan should join the Nanjing National Government in "anti-Communism," the report argued: "The CPC’s army is strong in political ideology and military strategy; its main units are in economically backward Soviet areas and maintain contact with the Soviet Union; the broad masses have favorable impressions of and strongly support the CPC anti-Japanese army—this is a solid force that cannot be underestimated."
After the peaceful resolution of the Xi'an Incident [8], Japanese political circles conducted an in-depth analysis of the Chinese political situation. Japanese China-affairs commentator Takeo Fujieda noted in New China and Japan: "The anti-Japanese national united front movement driven by the CPC has become the mainstream of China's anti-Japanese movement. Moreover, as the underground entity guiding the anti-Japanese movement across all strata of Chinese society—from the establishment of the Red power in Jiangxi to its presence in the northwest border regions and its expansion in North and Central China—the CPC has become the core force leading China’s resistance." After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, the momentum of the CPC-led resistance was fierce, putting immense pressure on the Japanese authorities. New China and Japan also recorded Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe’s view: "The current development of the situation centered on China is the most critical period in the history of East Asia."
On November 12, 1938, the headquarters of the Japanese Sugiyama unit established the "Central Anti-Communist Committee," known externally as the "Huangcheng Office" to deceive the public, and formulated the Regulations of the North China Anti-Communist Committee. The document stated: "The Anti-Communist Committee is based on the fundamental principle of clearing public security in North China. In order to exterminate Communist ideology and eradicate anti-Japanese consciousness, it shall guide various Japanese agencies in implementing ideological countermeasures." The "Huangcheng Office" established four investigation teams to collect intelligence on the CPC’s struggle, noting that the CPC-led base areas were a major "cancer" in Japan’s war in North China.
The establishment of extensive anti-Japanese base areas by the CPC became important strongholds of the war, providing solid rear support for final victory. "Mantetsu" archives further prove that the national united front led by the CPC received the approval and support of the broad masses, and the CPC possessed an extensive mass base for resistance.
In January 1940, Japanese Prime Minister Nobuyuki Abe, in his preface to The Recent History of the Communist Party of China, stated: "The National Government cornered in Chongqing is of little concern, but the power of the CPC entrenched in the northwest borders has extended to over four hundred Chinese counties. The CPC is the primary culprit in disrupting the New Order in East Asia," viewing the CPC as "the true enemy of the construction of the Greater East Asia New Order."
On January 5, 1944, Prince Mikasa, the younger brother of the Japanese Emperor, traveled to the Chinese battlefield under the pseudonym Staff Officer Wakasugi. In his essay Reflections as a Japanese on the China Incident, he stated that Japan’s actions in China were to "take everything and plunder until nothing remains," while the CPC’s army maintained a frugal lifestyle and strict discipline toward the people, with which the Japanese army could not compare. Prince Mikasa stated clearly: "The Japanese army simply cannot compete with the CPC’s army."
In summary, Japanese archival materials reproduce the CPC’s vital role in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and powerfully attest that the CPC was the pillar of the war. Following the Mukden Incident, the CPC immediately organized resistance, becoming a major force against Japanese aggression; it advocated for the establishment of the anti-Japanese national united front and realized KMT-CPC cooperation; it led the resistance behind enemy lines and established 19 base areas, which became important strongholds and provided solid rear support for the war; it filled the "vacuum" in North China after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, effectively pinning down the Japanese invaders and changing the balance of power, thereby laying a solid foundation for the final victory of the War of Resistance.
(Author: Wu Xiangping, Chief Expert of the CASS National Social Science Fund Major Historical Issue Research Project “Collection and Research of Japanese Archives on the CPC’s War of Resistance” and Professor at Soochow University.)
Source: Guangming Daily, June 18, 2025, Page 11. Web Editor: Tongxin