The Analysis Of The Relations Of The Shaanxi Gansu Ningxia Border Region And The Surrounding Kuomintang Militaries Before The Anhui Incident

When the Central Committee of CPC moved to Northern Shaanxi, it made a significant amendment on its strategy of united front according to the actual situation. It began to strive for the consensus with the anti-Japanese elite in Nationalist Party; Hu Zongnan, Yan Xishan, Deng Baoshan, Zhu Shaoliang and Ma Hongkui and so on who surrounded the Border Region were all objects of the united front. CPC once cooperated with them at different levels.CPC and Nationalist Party started the 2nd KMT-CPC cooperation after the Comprehensive Anti-Japanese War to end the civil war and resist invasion in unison. The official establishment of Shan-Gan-Ning Border Regions is the outcome of the 2nd KMT-CPC cooperation. However, the Border Region was still besieged by the Central Army of Nationalist Party and local warlords. The military relations with them are an important impact upon the security of the Border Region, also a concentrated reflection of the change of KMT-CPC relations and a strategic pivot during the anti-Japanese war. Mao Zedong and the Central Committee of CPC attached great importance to the relations with the surrounding forces of Nationalist Party so as to maintain the situation of peaceful coexistence and joint anti-Japanese. Therefore, Mao Zedong directly guided senior officers such as Xiao Jinguang, the commander of garrison corps of the Eighth Route Army, and Wang Zhen, the commander of Brigade 359 to strengthen the relations with their counterparts in Nationalist Party, to conduct joint anti-Japanese and friendly communication, and to make explanation and negotiation to clarify misunderstandings if necessary. The front-line soldiers and officers were also encouraged to make friends with friendly forces; and the effect is remarkable.In the context of the macro-circumstance of KMT-CPC relations, the Border Region was not immune from the strike from those anti-Communist climaxes in the end of 1939 and the beginning of 1940:Suide Event, Longdong Event and Jinxi Incident came one after another. However, benefiting from the self-restraint of both parties, each conflict could be quelled through negotiation. The effort for the united front in many years laid a foundation for defusing the crisis caused by those big and small conflicts. Because of the quite rational treatment by both parties, the conflicts between the Border Region and the surrounding forces of Nationalist Party failed to rise to the level of local wars.There was a new change in the two-party relations following the 1st anti-Communist climax, but the situation in the Border Region was calmer than that in North China, Shandong and Jiangsu and so on. In general, the mainstream of the military relations between both parties prior to the Southern Anhui Incident is peaceful coexistence. It is not only the outcome of KMT-CPC relations in the earlier stage of anti-Japanese war, laying a foundation of the evolution of the later KMT-CPC relations, but also lays an important foundation for the stable development of the Shan-Gan-Ning Border Region and for the Central Committee of CPC and the Central Military Commission of CPC fully playing the role of commanding center in a relatively advantageous survival environment.