SDHF Newsletter No.447 The Road to the Greater East Asian War No. 48 Ch.12-2

THE ROAD TO THE GREATER EAST ASIAN WAR
Nakamura Akira, Dokkyo University Professor Emeritus
(English Translation: Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact)
Part 48, Chapter 12: Chinese Civil War and the Xi’an Incident – 2

November 21, 2025

Nearly one million Nationalist government troops surrounded the communist base in Jiangxi province in their fifth sweep of CCP forces. In October 1934 the communists resigned themselves to abandoning Ruijin, and the main strength of the 100,000-man Red Army embarked on a westward exodus. They covered 14,000 kilometers until finally finding safety in Yan’an , Shanxi province.

A political artifice that aided the fleeing CCP forces was the Comintern’s Popular Front strategy. The Comintern’s Seventh World Congress was held in Moscow from July 25 to August 20, 1935. There communist parties of all member nations were ordered to form an extensive, united, anti-fascist Popular Front. Unsurprisingly, the Soviet Union did not appreciate the improvement in Japan-China relations in 1935. As a step toward the communization of Asia, its most fervent hope was a war between Japan and China’s Nationalist government, one that would exhaust both combatants.

It is widely known that the Popular Front strategy bore fruit in the form of Popular Front governments established in Spain and France in 1936. In China, on August 1, 1933, the Chinese Soviet government’s People’s Committee and the CCP’s Central Committee issued the August 1 Declaration, which bore the official title “A Message to All Our Compatriots To Oppose the Japanese and To Save Our Country.”

The August 1 Declaration sparked the emergence of a rash of anti-Japanese organizations. Momentum toward the formation of an anti-Japanese national united front grew with each passing day. December 1935 saw the establishment of the Shanghai Women’s Association for National Salvation, at the heels of which other anti-Japanese organizations with “national salvation association” in their names cropped up in many regions and sectors of society.

Chiang Kai-shek’s reaction was to issue a warning that the “national salvation” slogans were tools being used by the CCP to regain power. But the anti-Japanese movement was now beyond control of the Nationalist government. The CCP issued a telegram urging the convocation of a “National Congress for Resisting Japan and Saving Our Nation.” Pro-Japanese sentiment all but disappeared, and the focus of debates was now when war against Japan should begin. As hostility toward the Japanese increased, a wave of indiscriminate acts of terrorism struck. During 1935 there were more than 10 Chinese terrorist attacks on Japanese nationals.

The Japanese Foreign ministry decided to use this opportunity to promote the adjustment of Japan-China diplomatic relations. However, when the Suiyuan Incident occurred, the Chinese mistakenly believed that their own troops had defeated Japanese-backed Inner Mongolian troops. China then called a halt to diplomatic negotiations, and their uncompromising stance became dominant.

URL: 　 https://www.sdh-fact.com/book-article/2399
　PDF: 　 https://www.sdh-fact.com/CL/Road48E.pdf

Moteki Hiromichi, Chairman
Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact