Forgotten Ally: China's World War II, 1937-1945

by Rana Mitter

The first point is to make the Nanking Government abandon the policy of depending on European countries and America . . . The second point is to make the Chinese people recognize that Japanese troops are the real friends of China, and have been sacrificing themselves in the current incident to rescue 400,000,000 Chinese correcting the latter’s misconceptions brought about by the anti-Japanese policy pursued by the Nanking Government.9 The idea that the Nationalist government was “dependent” on Europe or America was a reference to the way that Chiang’s government had tried to counter the threat from Japan before 1937 by seeking support from the Western powers, although those powers remained reluctant to offer much substantial help. It was also, more broadly, a recognition that China had started to participate in a world where transnational organizations such as the League of Nations were trying to overcome the frictions caused by bilateral conflicts between countries.10 Japan regarded China as its backyard, and these developments were deeply unwelcome.