The Contemporary Significance of the Chinese Communist Party’s Guiding Strategy in the War of Resistance

President Xi Jinping emphasized at the commemorative conference marking the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War that the Chinese People’s War of Resistance was a great war of arduous and extraordinary effort. During the War of Resistance period, the Chinese Communist Party played the role of the mainstay, employing an exceptionally superb art of war guidance to unite all the material and spiritual forces of the Chinese nation, defeating the then-invincible Japanese aggressors, making indelible historical contributions to the victory in the Eastern Main Battlefield of the World Anti-Fascist War, and also leaving behind many valuable experiences and inspirations.

习近平主席在纪念中国人民抗日战争暨世界反法西斯战争胜利80周年大会上强调，中国人民抗日战争是艰苦卓绝的伟大战争。抗日战争时期，中国共产党发挥中流砥柱作用，以高超绝伦的战争指导艺术，将中华民族的全部物质力和精神力凝聚起来，打败了当时不可一世的日本侵略者，为赢得世界反法西斯战争东方主战场胜利作出了不可磨灭的历史性贡献，也留下了很多宝贵的经验启示。

A Global Vision for Coordinating National Security

全球视野统筹国家安全

The Chinese War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was an important component of the World Anti-Fascist War, and its strategic guidance was inevitably deeply influenced by the broader international political context. In the early stages of the War of Resistance, Mao Zedong clearly pointed out: “Our enemy is a worldwide enemy, China’s War of Resistance is a worldwide war of resistance; history has already shown that an isolated view of war is incorrect.” The Chinese Communist Party adhered to the unity of a national stance and a global vision, consistently examining the national crisis with a “world perspective,” seeking opportunities and breaking through difficult situations amidst the “momentum” and “changes” in the evolution of the international strategic landscape.

中国抗日战争是世界反法西斯战争的重要组成部分，其战略指导必然深受国际政治大背景的影响。抗战初期，毛泽东明确指出：“我们的敌人是世界性的敌人，中国的抗战是世界性的抗战，孤立战争的观点历史已指明其不正确了。”中国共产党坚持民族立场与全球视野相统一，始终以“世界眼光”审视民族危机，在国际战略格局演进的“势”与“变”中寻找机遇、突破困局。

Facing the ambition of Japanese militarism to invade China and attempt to establish a “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere,” the Chinese Communist Party, with keen insight, closely monitored the development and changes in the domestic and international situation, placing China’s War of Resistance within the broader framework of the World Anti-Fascist War. In December 1941, the day after the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Central Committee of the CPC convened a Politburo meeting and issued the “Declaration of the Chinese Communist Party on the Pacific War,” explicitly incorporating China’s War of Resistance into the overall situation of the World Anti-Fascist War. The Chinese Communist Party also, through an in-depth analysis of the conflict between Japan’s “exclusive domination of China” and the interests of Britain and the United States in China, made the strategic judgment that “even if Britain and the United States temporarily compromise, they will ultimately join the anti-Japanese camp.” Starting from the fundamental opposition between the socialist system and the imperialist system, it regarded the Soviet Union as a reliable external source of support for China’s War of Resistance.

面对日本军国主义犯我中华、妄图建立“大东亚共荣圈”的野心，中国共产党以敏锐的洞察力，密切关注国内外时局发展变化，将中国抗日战争置于世界反法西斯战争的大格局中考量。1941年12月，太平洋战争爆发次日，中共中央即召开政治局会议，发布《中国共产党为太平洋战争的宣言》，明确将中国抗战纳入世界反法西斯战争全局。中国共产党还通过深入分析日本“独占中国”与英美在华利益的矛盾冲突，做出“即使英美暂时妥协，最终也会加入反日阵营”的战略预判，并从社会主义制度与帝国主义制度的根本对立出发，将苏联视为中国抗战的可靠外援。

In today’s world, the international landscape is undergoing profound adjustments, geopolitical conflicts are intensifying, and security challenges are unprecedented. Facing the accelerating changes unseen in a century in the world and the intertwined and turbulent international security situation, it is even more necessary to coordinate national security with a far-sighted global vision and to manage national security with rock-solid strategic resolve. We must always use mutual learning among civilizations to eliminate estrangement and unite humanity’s common values; use multilateralism to counter division and expand broad space for cooperation; use independent development to consolidate the foundation and break through blockades in areas such as science and technology; adhere to the unity of a national stance and a global vision, and become a backbone force in promoting world peace and leading global development.

当今世界，国际格局深度调整，地缘冲突日趋加剧，安全挑战前所未有。面对加速演进的世界百年变局和变乱交织的国际安全形势，更要以高瞻远瞩的全球视野统筹国家安全，以稳如泰山的战略定力运筹国家安全。要始终以文明互鉴消弭隔阂，凝聚人类共同价值；以多边主义应对分裂，拓展广泛合作空间；以自主发展夯实根基，打破科技等领域封锁，坚持民族立场与全球视野相统一，成为促进世界和平、引领全球发展的中坚力量。

Multi-Domain Synergy to Converge Forces for Victory

多域协同汇聚制胜合力

The strategic guidance of war is not merely a matter of military command; more importantly, it involves the comprehensive preparation and effective integration of all elements affecting victory or defeat in war, using comprehensive strength advantages to balance and overcome powerful adversaries. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Chinese Communist Party consistently took the national-democratic revolution as its central task, coordinating and mobilizing resources from all sides from an overall strategic perspective, and exerting synergistic force through multiple means such as political leadership, military struggle, and economic mobilization, uniting the strength of the entire nation to completely break Japan’s attempt to invade and destroy China.

战争战略指导并非单纯军事指挥问题，更重要的在于对影响战争胜负诸要素进行全面准备和有效整合，以综合力量优势制衡制胜强敌对手。中国共产党在抗日战争时期始终以民族民主革命为中心任务，从战略全局高度统筹调动各方资源，通过政治引领、军事斗争、经济动员等多种手段协同发力，凝聚全民族力量，彻底打破日本侵略灭亡中国的企图。

Facing the stark reality of the disparity in strength between China and Japan, the first thing the Chinese Communist Party did was to unite all forces that could be united. During the War of Resistance, the Party always adhered to the principle that “national interests are above all else,” focusing on integrating the wills and interests of different classes within the country, and holding high the banner of the “United Front of the Chinese Nation Against Japan.” It not only took the lead in making major concessions such as “reorganizing the Red Army into the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army” and “abolishing the Soviet government,” but also, in terms of land policy, changed from confiscating landlords’ land to reducing rent and interest; in terms of the political system, formulated the “Three-Thirds System” [1]1 The “Three-Thirds System” was a policy for the composition of anti-Japanese democratic political power in the base areas, where Communists, progressive non-Party members, and centrists each occupied roughly one-third of the positions. principle for building political power and implemented a universal suffrage system in the base areas… Through a series of successful ideological guidance, policy and institutional design, and victories in military struggle, the Chinese Communist Party gradually grew into the leader of the Chinese nation’s War of Resistance, forming a vibrant situation of the entire nation uniting in resistance.

面对中日敌我力量悬殊的现实困境，中国共产党首先做的就是团结一切可以团结的力量。抗战期间，党始终坚持“民族利益高于一切”，注重整合国内不同阶级的意志和利益，高举“抗日民族统一战线”旗帜，不仅率先做出“改编红军为八路军和新四军”“取消苏维埃政府”等重大让步，而且在土地政策方面从没收地主土地改为减租减息，在政权制度方面制定“三三制”政权建设原则和在根据地推行普选制度……中国共产党通过一系列成功的思想旗帜引领、政策制度设计和军事斗争胜利，一步步成长为中华民族抗战的领导者，形成了全民族团结抗战的生动局面。

The Chinese Communist Party not only united people’s hearts through broad political unity but also continuously sought to expand and consolidate the base areas to strengthen the material foundation. To this end, the Party and the armed forces under its leadership actively infiltrated areas occupied by the Japanese army, establishing anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines, thereby providing sustainable support for military struggle. On the one hand, it adhered to synchronizing armed struggle with political power construction, breaking up large units into smaller ones, dispersing them to various regions to merge with local armed forces, greatly expanding the base for military mobilization. On the other hand, it carried out the streamlining of troops and simplification of administration, launched the Great Production Campaign [2]2 The Great Production Campaign was a large-scale self-sufficiency movement launched by the CPC in the base areas during the War of Resistance, aimed at overcoming severe economic difficulties caused by the Japanese blockade and Nationalist government’s restrictions. in the base areas, achieving “self-sufficiency through our own efforts,” and realizing a positive interaction between economic production and military development. The Party used military struggle as a means, with strategic survival and expansion as its goals, formulated military lines based on its own development, and through organized and institutionalized military construction, transformed the economic and social resources of the base areas into military potential and war-fighting capability.

中国共产党不仅以广泛政治团结凝聚人心，也不断谋求根据地的扩大与巩固以建强物质基础。为此，党及其所领导的抗日武装力量主动向日军占领区渗透，建立敌后抗日根据地，使军事斗争获得可持续支撑。一方面坚持武装斗争与政权建设同步，将大部队化整为零，分散到各地区与地方武装合编，极大扩展了军事动员基础。另一方面，开展精兵简政，在根据地展开大生产运动，“自己动手丰衣足食”，实现了经济生产与军事发展的良性互动。党以军事斗争为手段，以战略生存与扩张为目标，立足自身发展制定军事路线，通过组织化、制度化的军事建设，将根据地经济和社会资源转化为军事潜力、战争能力。

Judging from several recent regional conflicts and local wars, overall contests and hybrid contests based on comprehensive national strength have become more prominent. To better safeguard national security and development, it is of great significance to build the capability to win a people’s war on an overall scale and to form comprehensive advantages for victory. It is necessary to broadly consolidate social consensus and better coordinate economic construction with national defense construction; resolutely strengthen “strategic fulcrums” such as the science and technology chain and the industrial chain, achieving the coordinated release of multi-domain forces; strive to build an integrated national strategic system and capability, driving the integrated integration of strategic layouts across various fields, the integrated integration of strategic resources, and the integrated application of strategic forces, firmly grasping the strategic initiative.

从近几场地区冲突和局部战争来看，基于综合国力的整体较量、混合较量更加凸显。为更好维护国家安全和发展，建构打赢人民战争总体战能力、形成综合制胜优势意义重大。要广泛凝聚社会共识，更好统筹经济建设和国防建设；坚决筑牢科技链、产业链等“战略支点”，实现多域力量协同释放；着力构建一体化国家战略体系和能力，驱动各领域战略布局一体融合、战略资源一体整合、战略力量一体运用，牢牢掌握战略主动权。

Continuously Innovating Military Strategic Guidance

不断创新军事战略指导

Facing the well-equipped and experienced Japanese invading forces, the anti-Japanese armed forces led by the Chinese Communist Party highly exerted their subjective initiative in military command, developing “independent and self-reliant mountain guerrilla warfare” into the main form of combat for the Party-led anti-Japanese armed forces against the Japanese puppet forces. At the same time, they boldly advanced into enemy-occupied areas, opened up battlefields behind enemy lines, and eventually turned from defense to offense, reversing the war situation.

面对装备精良、富有现代作战经验的侵华日军，中国共产党领导的抗日武装力量高度发挥军事指挥的主观能动性，将“独立自主的山地游击战”发展成为党领导抗日武装力量打击日伪军的主要作战形式，同时大胆挺进敌占区、开辟敌后战场，直至转守为攻、扭转战局。

The Chinese Communist Party firmly grasped the key hub of war guidance. Not only did it establish the dominant position of guerrilla warfare at the strategic level, but it also refined this grand strategy down to the operational and tactical execution level, making it an infallible magic weapon for defeating the enemy. In the Hundred Regiments Offensive [3]3 The Hundred Regiments Offensive was a major military campaign launched by the Eighth Route Army in August 1940 against the Japanese army in North China, involving over 100 regiments, aimed at destroying enemy transportation lines and strongholds., the Eighth Route Army’s “sabotage warfare” effectively coordinated the operations of regular army units, breaking the Japanese puppet forces’ advantage in troop mobility relying on railway and highway networks; the “sparrow warfare” in the Taihang Mountain Anti-Japanese Base Area used small anti-Japanese armed units to continuously harass, pin down, and deplete the enemy’s main force groups; the “tunnel warfare” and “landmine warfare” on the plains of North China and Shandong established a complete set of strategic and tactical systems using active defensive operations to break the enemy’s “encirclement and suppression” and “blockade.” The Party and the anti-Japanese armed forces under its leadership achieved innovative breakthroughs in the main forms of combat with bold and resourceful creative thinking, thereby creating a brilliant example in world military history of using guerrilla warfare to balance and overcome a powerful enemy.

中国共产党紧抓战争指导的关键枢纽，不仅在战略层面确立游击战争的主导地位，更将这一宏大战略细化到战役战术执行层面，使之成为克敌制胜的不二法宝。百团大战中，八路军的“破袭战”有效配合正规兵团作战，打破日伪军依托铁路、公路网的兵力机动优势；太行山抗日根据地的“麻雀战”，以小股抗日武装力量不断袭扰，牵制、消耗敌重兵集团；华北、山东平原地区的“地道战”“地雷战”，建立起一整套以积极防御作战行动打破敌之“围剿”“封锁”的战略战术体系。党及其领导的抗日武装力量以富于胆略的创造性思维实现了主要作战形式的创新突破，也由此开创了世界战争史中以游击战制衡制胜强敌的光辉典范。

The Chinese Communist Party also steadily grasped the key hub of creating battlefields, achieving far-sighted strategic pre-positioning, and actively opening up a favorable battlefield pattern for operations against Japan. The chess game connects to the war situation; the art of war is like the art of chess. In 1938, in “The Strategic Problems of the Anti-Japanese Guerrilla War,” Mao Zedong compared campaign battles to “capturing stones” in the game of Go, and the enemy’s strongholds and our guerrilla base areas to “making eyes,” emphasizing the strategic significance of guerrilla base areas behind enemy lines. The Chinese Communists observed calmly and made bold decisions. The People’s Army broke up into small units, advanced behind enemy lines to open up new battlefields, and successfully pinned down the elite forces of the Japanese army. In terms of battlefield layout, the Party, with several anti-Japanese base areas such as the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei, Shanxi-Suiyuan, and Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan as its core, gradually expanded guerrilla zones, continuously encroached on enemy-occupied areas, and broke the Japanese army’s attempt to turn “point and line” occupation into “area” occupation, causing it to be mired in the vast ocean of a people’s war.

中国共产党还稳抓创造战场这一关键枢纽，实现富于远见的战略预置，积极开辟对日作战有利战场格局。棋局通战局，兵道似棋道。1938年，毛泽东在《抗日游击战争的战略问题》中，将战役战斗比作围棋中的“吃子”，把敌之据点与我之游击根据地比作“做眼”，强调敌后游击根据地的战略意义。中国共产党人冷静观察、大胆决策，人民军队化整为零，挺进敌后开辟新战场，成功牵制日军精锐力量。在战场布局上，党以晋察冀、晋绥、晋冀鲁豫等若干抗日根据地为核心，逐步拓展游击区，不断蚕食敌占区，打破日军变“点线”占领为“面”的占领的企图，使其陷于人民战争汪洋大海。

The form of modern warfare is accelerating its evolution toward informatization and intelligentization. Whether one can precisely lock onto an opponent’s systemic weaknesses, innovate cross-domain tactical combinations, and preset a flexible battlefield configuration bears on victory or defeat in war. Only by innovating operational methods, making sound strategic pre-deployments, and actively designing war can one better defeat a powerful enemy. It is necessary to continuously innovate military strategic guidance, strengthen operational means such as algorithmic warfare, unmanned operations, and cognitive warfare, so as to form an asymmetric combat capability for precision strikes against the opponent; pay greater attention to outer space, the deep sea, polar regions, and cyberspace, pre-deploy in new security domains ahead of time, form all-domain constraints on a powerful enemy opponent, and comprehensively enhance the capability to prevail against and overmatch a strong adversary.

现代战争形态加速向信息化智能化演变，能否精准锁定对手体系弱点、创新跨域战术组合、预置弹性战场格局关乎战争胜负。创新作战方式，搞好战略预置，主动设计战争，方能更好制胜强敌。要不断创新军事战略指导，强化算法战、无人作战、认知作战等作战手段，形成精准打击对手的非对称作战能力；更加关注太空、深海、极地、网络空间，超前预置新型安全领域，形成对强敌对手的全域牵制，全面提升向强制强的胜战能力。

Conduct military struggle firmly and flexibly

坚定灵活开展军事斗争

During the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Communist Party of China consistently focused on matching the ends of war with the means, always kept a close watch on key issues concerning the overall war situation to implement battlefield command, and guided the war toward the goals we had preset through timely adjustments of strategy and tactics and flexible changes in operational forms, thereby firmly seizing the initiative in the war.

抗日战争中，中国共产党始终注重战争目的与手段的相互匹配，时刻紧盯关乎战争全局的关键问题实施战场指挥，以战略策略的适时调整、作战形式的灵活变换，引导战争向我方预先设定目标发展，进而牢牢掌握战争主动权。

China’s War of Resistance Against Japan had two characteristics: first, the enemy was strong and we were weak; second, the situation was one of interlocking entanglements. Taking comprehensive account of the protracted and brutal nature of the War of Resistance, the CPC’s war guidance took a long-term view, measured the enemy’s strength when deploying troops, and strove to “preserve oneself and annihilate the enemy.” To better consolidate and develop the anti-Japanese base areas, the Party emphasized that one should not simply “fight hard” against Japan, but should instead be adept at targeting the different operational actions taken by the Japanese army in different regions, starting from the point of achieving local superiority and forming a local advantage in forces against the enemy, and adopt tit-for-tat operational actions. This meant adhering overall to the correct strategic policy of “guerrilla warfare as the basic form, but not relaxing the conditions for favorable mobile warfare,” sometimes using various forms of guerrilla warfare with dispersed forces to maneuver with the enemy, and sometimes concentrating main forces to resolutely smash the enemy’s encirclement, “mopping-up” operations, “nibbling” tactics, and blockades, directly annihilating the enemy, defending the homeland, and defending production.

中国抗日战争有两个特点，一是敌强我弱，二是犬牙交错。综合考量抗日战争的长期性和残酷性，中国共产党的战争指导放眼长远、量敌用兵，力争“保存自己、消灭敌人”。为了更好巩固和发展抗日根据地，党强调不可只是一味对日“硬打”，而是应善于针对日军在不同地区采取的不同作战行动，从局部聚优、形成对敌作战局部力量优势为出发点，采取针锋相对的作战行动。这就是总体坚持“基本的是游击战，但不放松有利条件下的运动战”的正确战略方针，时而以分散兵力的多种形式的游击战与敌周旋，时而集中主力部队坚决粉碎敌人的围攻、“扫荡”“蚕食”和封锁，直接歼灭敌人、保卫家乡、保卫生产。

The skilled warrior compels the enemy, and is not compelled by the enemy. [4]4 A classical allusion from Sun Tzu’s *The Art of War*, meaning that the skilled commander controls the enemy rather than being controlled by the enemy. In different periods of the War of Resistance, the Party timely adjusted its strategy and tactics, ensuring that military responses were generally appropriate and gradually seizing the initiative in the war. In the early stage of the War of Resistance, battles and campaigns such as the Battle of Pingxingguan and the Battle of Yanmenguan [5]5 The Battle of Pingxingguan (September 1937) was a major ambush victory by the Eighth Route Army against the Japanese army in Shanxi; the Battle of Yanmenguan (October 1937) was a series of engagements by Chinese forces to defend a key pass in Shanxi. severely blunted the sharp edge of the invading Japanese forces. In response to the Japanese military’s encirclement and suppression of the anti-Japanese base areas, the Party launched “counter-offensive battles and campaigns” such as the Hundred-Regiment Campaign [6]6 The Hundred-Regiment Campaign (August–December 1940) was a large-scale offensive by the Eighth Route Army against Japanese forces in North China, involving over 100 regiments. to break the Japanese blockade and strangulation. In the later stage of the War of Resistance, the Party exchanged time for space, leading the anti-Japanese armed forces to concentrate forces in a short period and launch continuous counter-offensives and attacks against Japanese-occupied areas, playing a decisive role in expelling the invading Japanese forces and winning the nationwide War of Resistance.

善战者，致人而不致于人。在抗日战争的不同时期，党适时调整战略策略，保证了军事应对总体得当，逐步夺取了战争主动权。抗战初期，平型关、雁门关等战役战斗重挫侵华日军锐气。针对日军对抗日根据地的军事围剿，发动诸如百团大战等“反攻性战斗和战役”，打破日军封锁扼杀。抗战后期，党以时间换取空间，领导抗日武装力量在短时间内集中兵力对日占区发动连续性反攻和进攻，为驱逐侵华日军、赢得全民抗战胜利发挥了决定性作用。

The center of gravity of modern war remains the struggle for the initiative in war, and the core of strategic guidance still lies in the precise control of war elements such as time, space, and intensity. Facing a systemic advantage, only by adhering to the strategic thinking of “measuring the enemy’s strength when deploying troops” and “responding appropriately in accordance with the times” can one be sure of victory. It is necessary to inherit and carry forward the strategic thinking of active defense, pay attention to the strategy and tactics of struggle, grasp the timing and intensity of struggle, make good and flexible use of military struggle as a means, and achieve the goals of not losing control, not showing weakness, and not suffering losses; through firm and flexible conduct of military struggle, resolutely safeguard the country’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, transform strategic will into the ability to control the situation, always ensure that the country’s core interests are not harmed, and ensure political and strategic initiative.

现代战争的重心仍是战争主动权的争夺，战略指导的核心仍在于对时间、空间、强度等战争要素的精准把控。面对体系优势，唯有秉承“量敌用兵”“因应适时”战略思维，方能稳操胜券。要继承发扬积极防御战略思想，讲求斗争战略策略，把握斗争时机火候，用好用活军事斗争这一手，做到不失控、不示弱、不吃亏；通过坚定灵活开展军事斗争，坚决维护好国家领土主权和海洋权益，把战略意志转化为控局能力，始终确保国家核心利益不受损，确保政治和战略主动。

(Authors: Zhao Weibo, Liu Siwei; Units: Academy of Military Sciences Institute of Military Political Work, Unit 32039)

（作者：赵韦博 刘思维，单位：军事科学院军队政治工作研究院、32039部队）

Online editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧