Original sentence: China (Nationalist): Nationalist China had several goals: to resist Japanese aggression, to unite China under one central government, to rid China of foreign influence, to defeat communism, and to re-emerge as a strong country.Japan: The motives of Japan were clear: to create prosperity for Japan and obtain resources from China for that purpose
Edited sentence: China (Nationalist): Nationalist China had several goals (besides fighting for its very survival as an entity): to resist Japanese aggression, to unite China under one central government, to rid China of foreign influence, to defeat communism, and to re-emerge as a strong country.Japan: The motives of Japan were clear: to create prosperity for Japan and obtain resources from China for that purpose (and the rest of Asia, for that matter), and also to seize China's mainland for potential living space for future Japanese people to multiply and colonize outside of the limits of the Japanese homeland.The high number of Chinese civilians and soldiers killed during the 'take no prisoners' combat methodology and occupation also points towards a 'war of extermination' and brutal subjugation/enslavement on the part of the Japanese towards the Chinese (whom the Japanese considered themselves superior to as a people; a situation of war and occupation similar to that waged by the Germans in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union in the early 1940s)