Editing Second Sino-Japanese War (section)

==Central Asian rebellions==
In 1937, then pro-Soviet General Sheng Shicai [[Xinjiang War (1937)|invaded Dunganistan]] accompanied by Soviet troops to defeat General [[Ma Hushan]] of the [[36th Division (National Revolutionary Army)|KMT 36th Division]]. General Ma expected help from Nanjing, but did not receive it. The Nationalist government was forced to deny these maneuvers as "Japanese propaganda", as it needed continued military supplies from the Soviets.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rsLQdBUgyMUC|title=Modern China's Ethnic Frontiers: A Journey to the West|author=Hsiao-ting Lin|year=2010|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-58264-3|page=58|access-date=2010-06-28|archive-date=12 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221012013926/https://books.google.com/books?id=rsLQdBUgyMUC|url-status=live}}</ref>

As the war went on, Nationalist General Ma Buqing was in virtual control of the [[Gansu]] corridor.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y3oeAAAAMAAJ|title=Asia, Volume 40|year=1940|publisher=Asia Magazine|access-date=2010-06-28|archive-date=12 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221012013926/https://books.google.com/books?id=y3oeAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> Ma had earlier fought against the Japanese, but because the Soviet threat was great, Chiang in July 1942 directed him to move 30,000 of his troops to the Tsaidam marsh in the [[Qaidam Basin]] of [[Qinghai]].<ref>{{citation|title=War, Leadership and Ethnopolitics: Chiang Kai-shek and China's frontiers, 1941–1945 |publisher=Informaworld.com }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/31657/Full_Text.pdf |title=Nationalists, Muslim Warlords, and the "Great Northwestern Development" in Pre-Communist China |author=Hsiao-ting Lin |access-date=2010-12-02 |publisher=Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program |date=February 2007 |volume=5 |number=1 |journal=The China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly |pages=115–135 |archive-date=29 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329212604/https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/31657/Full_Text.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Chiang further named Ma as Reclamation Commissioner, to threaten Sheng's southern flank in Xinjiang, which bordered Tsaidam.

The [[Ili Rebellion]] broke out in Xinjiang when the Kuomintang Hui Officer Liu Bin-Di was killed while fighting Turkic Uyghur rebels in November 1944. The Soviet Union supported the Turkic rebels against the Kuomintang, and Kuomintang forces fought back.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4J0uAAAAIAAJ|title=Journal of the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs, Volumes 4–5|author=Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs|year=1982|publisher=King Abdulaziz University|page=299|access-date=2010-06-28|archive-date=12 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221012013926/https://books.google.com/books?id=4J0uAAAAIAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>