China was engaged at the same time in two separate wars. One was with Japan and the other with the [[Comintern]]. The Soviet Union fought China with an army of [[Chinese Communist Party|Chinese revolutionaries]], the CCP, directed and armed by the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union's ambitions in China were to transform all northern China — [[Sinkiang]], [[Mongolia]] and [[Manchuria]] — into Soviet dependencies and to convert what remained of China into a [[Communist]] satellite state.
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===Mukden Incident===
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The Japanese invasion of [[Manchuria]] in 1931 marked the beginning of World War II in Asia. In March 1932 the Japanese set up the [[puppet state]] of [[Manchukuo]]. On 24 February, 1933, the [[League of Nations]] adopted a resolution calling for the non-recognition of Manchukuo, however the [[Soviet Union]] nonetheless did recognize Manchukuo and sold Japan the Chinese Eastern Railway in 1935.
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===Second Sino-Japanese War===
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:''Main article:[[Second Sino-Japanese War]]''
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In 1937 Japan moved south from Manchuria and began a full scale war against China. The Japanese army was much more powerful, and quickly drove the Chinese, under [[Chiang Kai-shek]] to remote mountain areas. Japan controlled the major cities and seacoast, and most of China's population, and set up a puppet regime. The United States strongly objected to Japan's moves, and began large-scale support for China.
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[[CCP]] Chairman [[Mao Zedong]] sent a secret directive to his followers IN 1944 which said:
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:"The Sino-Japanese war affords our party an excellent opportunity for expansion . . . the first stage is a compromising stage . . . but in reality this will serve as camouflage for the… development of our party. The second [stage]. . . should be spent in laying the foundation of our party's political and military powers . . . until we can match and break the [[Kuomintang]]. The third is an offensive stage . . . in which our forces. . . isolate and disperse…and wrest the leadership from the hands of the Kuomintang."<ref>Documents on the Problem of the Chinese Communist Party (Chungking, 1944).</ref>