Don't think so, they didn't have enough troops or fuel to carry
on a long war.
9. Why is the War of Resistance Against Japan a protracted war?
Why will the final victory be China's? What is the basis for these
statements?
The war between China and Japan is not just any war, it is
specifically a war of life and death between semi-colonial and
semi-feudal China and imperialist Japan, fought in the Nineteen
Thirties. Herein lies the basis of the whole problem. The two sides
in the war have many contrasting features, which will be considered
in turn below.
10. The Japanese side. First, Japan is a powerful
imperialist country, which ranks first in the East in military,
economic and political-organizational power, and is one of the five
or six foremost imperialist countries of the world. These are the
basic factors in Japan's war of aggression. The inevitability of
the war and the impossibility of quick victory for China are due to
Japan's imperialist system and her great military, economic and
political-organizational power.
Secondly, however, the imperialist character of Japan's social
economy determines the imperialist character of her war, a war that
is retrogressive and barbarous. In the Nineteen Thirties, the
internal and external contradictions of Japanese imperialism have
driven her not only to embark on an adventurist war unparalleled in
scale but also to approach her final collapse. In terms of social
development, Japan is no longer a thriving country; the war will
not lead to the prosperity sought by her ruling classes but to the
very reverse, the doom of Japanese imperialism.
This is what we mean by the retrogressive nature of Japan's war.
It is this reactionary quality, coupled with the military-feudal
character of Japanese imperialism, that gives rise to the peculiar
barbarity of Japan's war. All of which will arouse to the utmost
the class antagonisms within Japan, the antagonism between the
Japanese and the Chinese nations, and the antagonism between Japan
and most other countries of the world. The reactionary and
barbarous character of Japan's war constitutes the primary reason
for her inevitable defeat.
Thirdly, Japan's war is conducted on the basis of her great
military, economic and political-organizational power, but at the
same time it rests on an inadequate natural endowment. Japan's
military, economic and political-organizational power is great but
quantitatively inadequate. Japan is a comparatively small country,
deficient in manpower and in military, financial and material
resources, and she cannot stand a long war. Japan's rulers are
endeavouring to resolve this difficulty through war, but again they
will get the very reverse of what they desire; that is to say, the
war they have launched to resolve this difficulty will eventually
aggravate it and even exhaust Japan's original resources.
Fourthly and lastly, while Japan can get international support
from the fascist countries, the international opposition she is
bound to encounter will be greater than her international support.
This opposition will gradually grow and eventually not only cancel
out the support but even bear down upon Japan herself. Such is the
law that an unjust cause finds meagre support, and such is the
consequence of the very nature of Japan's war. To sum up, Japan's
advantage lies in her great capacity to wage war, and her
disadvantages lie in the reactionary and barbarous nature of her
war, in the inadequacy of her manpower and material resources, and
in her meagre international support. These are the characteristics
on the Japanese side.
11. The Chinese side. First, we are a semi-colonial and
semi-feudal country. The Opium War, the
Taiping Revolution, the Reform Movement of 1898, the
Revolution of 1911 and the Northern Expedition --the revolutionary
or reform movements which aimed at extricating China from her
semi-colonial and semi-feudal state--all met with serious setbacks,
and China remains a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country. We are
still a weak country and manifestly inferior to the enemy in
military, economic and political-organizational power. Here again
one can find the basis for the inevitability of the war and the
impossibility of quick victory for China.
Secondly, however, China's liberation movement, with its
cumulative development over the last hundred years, is now
different from that of any previous period. Although the domestic
and foreign forces opposing it have caused it serious setbacks, at
the same time they have tempered the Chinese people. Although China
today is not so strong as Japan militarily, economically,
politically and culturally, yet there are factors in China more
progressive than in any other period of her history. The Communist
Party of China and the army under its leadership represent these
progressive factors. It is on the basis of this progress that
China's present war of liberation can be protracted and can achieve
final victory. By contrast with Japanese imperialism, which is
declining, China is a country rising like the morning sun. China's
war is progressive, hence its just character. Because it is a just
war, it is capable of arousing the nation to unity, of evoking the
sympathy of the people in Japan and of winning the support of most
countries in the world.
Thirdly, and again by contrast with Japan, China is a very big
country with vast territory, rich resources, a large population and
plenty of soldiers, and is capable of sustaining a long war.
Fourthly and lastly, there is broad international support for China
stemming from the progressive and just character of her war, which
is again exactly the reverse of the meagre support for Japan's
unjust cause. To sum up, China's disadvantage lies in her military
weakness, and her advantages lie in the progressive and just
character of her war, her great size and her abundant international
support. These are China's characteristics.
12. Thus it can be seen that Japan has great military, economic
and political-organizational power, but that her war is reactionary
and barbarous, her manpower and material resources are inadequate,
and she is in an unfavourable position internationally.
China, on the contrary, has less military, economic and
political-organizational power, but she is in her era of progress,
her war is progressive and just, she is moreover a big country, a
factor which enables her to sustain a protracted war, and she will
be supported by most countries. The above are the basic, mutually
contradictory characteristics of the Sino-Japanese war. They have
determined and are determining all the political policies and
military strategies and tactics of the two sides; they have
determined and are determining the protracted character of the war
and its outcome, namely, that the final victory will go to China
and not to Japan.
The war is a contest between these characteristics. They will
change in the course of the war, each according to its own nature;
and from this everything else will follow. These characteristics
exist objectively and are not invented to deceive people; they
constitute all the basic elements of the war, and are not
incomplete fragments; they permeate all major and minor problems on
both sides and all stages of the war, and they are not matters of
no consequence. If anyone forgets these characteristics in studying
the Sino-Japanese war, he will surely go wrong; and even though
some of his ideas win credence for a time and may seem right, they
will inevitably be proved wrong by the course of the war. On the
basis of these characteristics we shall now proceed to explain the
problems to be dealt with.
http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/
CCP propanganda, no mention were made at all on Kuomingtang's
role in the war.