Final answer:
The invasion of China by Japan played a significant role in the rise of Chinese communism, making it difficult to determine whether China would have gone communist without it.
Step-by-step explanation:
If Japan had not invaded China, it is difficult to say for certain whether China would have gone communist. However, the invasion did play a significant role in the rise of Chinese communism. The Chinese Communist Party, led by Mao Zedong, gained support and strength during the Japanese invasion, which helped them in their eventual rise to power. Without the invasion, the conditions that allowed the communist movement to gain popularity may not have been present, and the outcome could have been different.