Chapter 21 Current International Situation and Its Influence on China's Current Situation

(December 16, 1943) Comrade Xiaoping[1]: A, Haijiang Power [2] is noted.It is absolutely right to work hard to produce, pay attention to savings, and prepare for the arrival of more difficult situations. Please stick to this policy.How Shandong and Central China should pay attention to it will be reported after Zhu Rui and Chen Yi[3] get to know the situation in Yanyan. B. The Pacific War lasted for two years, and the Sino-Japanese War lasted for more than six years. Japan is still quite powerful, and given the dangers in the Pacific, it is not easy for Britain and the United States to counterattack.On the contrary, the KMT's institutions were corrupt and spies were rampant. During the long-term strategic stalemate, its strength did not increase, but weakened.The Cairo Conference[4] dealt a blow to Japan's inducement to surrender (but did not give up in the end), blocked Chiang Kai-shek's door to seek a compromise, and gave checks to Penghu, Taiwan, and Manchuria, which may lead to the disaster of a frontal attack by the Japanese aggressors.The Tehran Conference[5] will definitely open up a second front in Europe, which is contrary to Chiang's wish to quickly counterattack in the Pacific.Therefore, Jiang's flight back to Chongqing from Cairo this time was not as loud and elated as the previous time when he abolished the treaty[6].The current situation is extremely favorable for the resistance against Japan and the revolution, but difficulties are still increasing (for example, the Cairo Conference may reduce the contradictions between the various factions among the Japanese chaebols and warlords, and make them more compromised and united than before, insisting on protracted wars, etc.), especially in the enemy's rear North China must be fully prepared and persist for another three to five years to prevent underestimation of the enemy and relaxation of long-term preparations due to the continuous victories of the Tehran and Cairo conferences and the Soviet Union.Please pay attention to the actual situation in each district at any time and correct it.C, Taiyue, and Zhongtiao have no response to rectification and production, so please pay attention to inspection and supervision.

Mao Zedong and Peng Dehuai[7] Published on December 16 based on transcripts kept by the Central Archives. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] Xiaoping, also known as Deng Xiaoping, was acting secretary of the Northern Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and political commissar of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army. [2] Refers to Deng Xiaoping's telegram to Mao Zedong and Peng Dehuai on December 3, 1943.The telegram said: Due to the enemy's destruction, the impact of the war, the widespread famine, and our poor production work, most of the regions in North China are close to exhaustion economically. "In the past, our districts did not give enough leadership to production and did not pay attention to the problem of savings. Neither the army nor the civilians could withstand the famine and the severe blows of the enemy. In the future, we must pay attention to production and pay attention to savings. We must earnestly pay attention to the accumulation of food and assets.”The telegram also suggested that the central government instruct Central China and Shandong to pay attention to saving materials or cash for emergencies.

[3] Zhu Rui, then secretary of the Shandong Branch of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, left for Yan'an in August 1943 to attend the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China and arrived in Yan'an at the end of 1943.Chen Yi (1901-1972), a native of Lezhi, Sichuan, was the acting commander of the New Fourth Army at the time. He left for Yan'an to attend the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China in November 1943. Arrived in Yan'an in March of the fourth year. [4] The Cairo Conference was a meeting held in Cairo, the capital of Egypt, between the heads of governments of China, the United States, and the United Kingdom from November 22 to 26, 1943, to discuss further joint operations against Japan.The meeting issued the Cairo Declaration of China, the United States, and Britain, which clearly stipulated that Japan must surrender unconditionally and return the Chinese territories Manchuria, Taiwan, and Penghu Islands that it had occupied to China.

[5] The Tehran Conference was a meeting held by the heads of governments of the Soviet Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom in Tehran, the capital of Iran, from November 28 to December 1, 1943.The meeting mainly discussed the issue of joint operations against Germany, and signed the Tehran General Agreement and the Tehran Declaration. The General Agreement stipulated that the United States, Britain and other countries should launch the Normandy landing campaign in May 1944 and open up a second European battlefield. [6] Refers to the Treaty and Exchange of Letters Concerning the Abolition of the Extraterritorial Jurisdiction of the United States in China and the Handling of Relevant Issues and the Treaty and Exchange of Letters Concerning the Abolition of the Extraterritorial Jurisdiction of the United Kingdom in China and its Related Privileges signed by China, the United States and the United Kingdom on January 11, 1943 ".

[7] Peng Dehuai, then deputy commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army.