893.00P.R./15
The Minister in China (MacMurray) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 1.]
Sir: In accordance with the Department’s instruction No. 78, of October 9, 1925,30 I have the honor to submit the following summary, with index, of events and conditions in China during January, 1929:
Ultimate authority remained during the month, as before, in the hands of the military leaders as such rather than as high officials of a central government whose several departments have not yet been fully organized. The events of the period, while not in themselves of unusual moment or direction, indicated continuing unrest in the country and the possibility of further disturbances resulting from the conflicting ambitions of the militarists and from rivalry between the radical elements and those in control of the government. The impression persisted that Marshal Feng Yu-hsiang, a possible future champion of the Left Wing, constituted one of the greatest elements of uncertainty …
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There was fighting in Szechwan between Generals Yang Sen and Liu Hsiang, during the month, the edicts of Nanking to the contrary notwithstanding.
Sporadic disturbances by groups of irresponsible individuals roughly labelled “Communists,” usually involving much bloodshed and destruction of property, were reported during January as in the past.
The Disbandment Conference
The following salient facts and observations are gleaned from a frank and able report of January 11th to the National Military Reorganization and Disbandment Conference by Mr. T. V. Soong, Minister of Finance:31
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Concluding his report, Mr. Soong laid before the Conference the following
proposals involving a centralization of control over governmental
finances:
Mr. Soong stated that should these five conditions be accepted and put into effect, the Ministry of Finance would be prepared to meet regularly and without fail at the due dates the annual military expenditure of $192,000,000 in addition to reasonable disbandment expenses.
The Conference was in session between the first and the twentyfifth of January. It elected, upon dissolution, a standing committee of eleven members to carry out its decrees, which, as suggested by the Military Attaché’s office, are a panacea for the various ills with which China is afflicted, and which it is not believed are capable of execution under present circumstances of effective control on the part of individual militarists of the machinery of government. The general program fixes the authorized strength of the National Army at sixty-five divisions, totalling approximately 800,000 men (half of the present number of those under arms) at an annual expenditure of $192,000,000, Chinese currency, as suggested by Mr. T. V. Soong. To prevent the continuation of the system of regional military control, the headquarters of the Commander in Chief, the commanders of the various group armies, the various field commanders, as well as the various central military organs, are forthwith to be abolished, supreme military authority being vested in the Central Disbandment Committee, which shall control all military movements throughout the entire country.
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Conditions in the Chefoo District
As set forth in reports from the Consul at Chefoo, the comparative quiet of that district since last September was disturbed by a mutiny in the latter part of January by the garrison troops at Hwanghsien and Lungkow followed by looting, the mutiny apparently having been caused by the fact that General Liu Chen-nien had removed the generals in command at the two places because they were suspected [Page 141] of having planned his overthrow. Upon the arrival of Japanese naval forces, which in turn were succeeded by troops of the Third Division loyal to General Liu, the mutinous troops were compelled to proceed southward towards Chaoyuan into an area in which the “Red Spears,” organized in Eastern Shantung, as elsewhere, as a protection against brigands and undisciplined troops, were exceptionally strong. The damage done to the Japanese shops looted was estimated at about $8,000, Chinese currency, no other foreign property being molested.
The cordiality of General Liu’s relations with the central government remained open to question during January, although he had accepted the post of Commander of the Third Division of the new Nationalist reorganized forces. Mr. Webber reported that, with the exception of the above-mentioned mutiny and looting, the redeeming factors of the General’s administration of Chefoo were that order had been maintained and legitimate trading made possible, taxation being lower than during the preceding Chang Tsung-ch’ang régime. Mr. Webber also reported that, with the object of making the port more sightly, General Liu ordered that the exterior of every place of business be painted blue, resulting, since no particular shade was specified, in a variety of interpretations of that color.
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I have [etc.]