893.00P.R./17
The Minister in China (MacMurray) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 29.]
Sir: In accordance with the Department’s instruction No. 78, of October 9, 1925,32 I have the honor to submit the following summary, with index, of events and conditions in China during February, 1929:
There were few occurrences of importance in Sino-Foreign relations during the month, the period being chiefly characterized by localized disturbances which emphasized the absence of real authority throughout the country on the part of the Nanking Government, and which appeared to indicate the possibility of an impending realignment of political forces involving a swing to the left (perhaps under the leadership of Marshal Feng Yu-hsiang) in connection with the meeting, in March, of the 3rd National Congress of Kuomintang Representatives.
[Page 142]China’s new import tariff went into effect on February 1st without general legal sanction since most of the treaties with foreign powers conceding tariff autonomy had not yet become operative. Those Powers which did not formally acquiesce in the enforcement of the tariff adopted, ex gratia, a passive attitude towards it.
On February 4th, the formal inauguration was held of the new government at Mukden, Marshal Chang Hsüeh-liang being ceremoniously installed as Chief Commander of the Northeastern Frontier Army and Generals Chang Tso-hsiang and Wan Fu-lin as vice-commanders. The members of the Fengtien Provincial Government Commission were also installed in office.
There were no developments of particular significance in Sino-Japanese relations during the month: formal negotiations with a view to the settlement of the outstanding differences between the two countries remained suspended, but a number of conversations were held between relatively minor officials on matters of detail. Local negotiations, for example, respecting the resumption of freight traffic over the Tsinan section of the Tientsin-Pukow Railway were brought to a conclusion on February 9th by the signing of a provisional agreement inter alia providing for the operation of one freight train each day from Tsinan to Kushan and north to Yencheng, with additional trains as traffic increases.
The Legation was informed that an American Advisory Committee, acting in Peking in behalf of the China Famine Belief Committee in New York, allocated, during the month, $20,000, Chinese currency, to be used by the Salvation Army in the maintenance of gruel kitchens in Chahar and Suiyuan, and $110,000, Chinese currency, for relief work in Suiyuan, Shensi, Kansu, and Honan, to be administered by the China International Famine Eelief Commission.
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Disturbances in Eastern Shantung
The revolt, in January, of General Liu Kai-tai’s troops at Hwanghsien and Lungkow against the authority of General Liu Chen-nien, nominally in command of the Nationalist forces in Eastern Shantung, was followed by more serious disturbances during February. The region, as the Consul at Chefoo expressed it, became a cockpit alike for brigands, “red spears,” insurgents, and quasi-governmental forces, a situation working the customary hardship on the local populace. General Chang Tsung-chang, the leader of the insurgents, reached Lungkow on February 19th from Dairen, notwithstanding Japanese surveillance, and set up his headquarters a few days later at Tengchow. His arrival, according to his statements, was part of a general movement of Northern leaders dissatisfied with the manner [Page 143] in which the Kuomintang, or “Southern Party,” had monopolized control of affairs and ignored all other factions. The first real clash of the campaign occurred on February 21st, when pro-Chang Tsungchang troops to the number of 24,000 were reported to have been successfully opposed by 7,000 men loyal to General Liu Chen-nien. At the end of the month, General Chang Tsung-chang claimed control of all of Eastern Shantung except Chefoo and its immediate vicinity. Fighting ceased on the 26th and negotiations were entered into with Liu Chen-nien for a peaceful turn-over. General Liu, whose allegiance to the Central Government had never been very firm, received support from the latter only to the extent of a remittance of Yuan $50,000, and 200,000 rounds of ammunition during February and it was felt, at the end of the month, that he was prepared to turn to either side.
General Chang Tsung-chang, whose venture caused some anxiety in North China, claimed that the movement would include Generals Yen Hsi-shan, Chu Yu-pu, Wu Peifu, Pai Chung-hsi, Chi Hsiehyuan, as well as certain other leaders in Manchuria, but not including General Chang Hsüeh-liang, whom he discounted.
No anti-foreign incidents were reported in relation to these occurences. A number of foreign men-of-war lay off Chefoo, however, as a precautionary measure.
Relations Between Hankow and Nanking
On February 19th, the Wuhan Branch Political Council, bringing the usual charges of negligence and corruption, ordered the removal from office of General Lu Ti-ping, Chairman of the Hunan Provincial Government, and appointed General Ho Chien in his place, presumably with the consent of General Li Tsung-jen, the head of the Kwangsi faction. Following relatively large troop movements from Hankow by railway, General Lu was driven from Changsha on the 21st, the move being executed by a general who represented the Kwangsi groups in Hankow.
General Lu Ti-ping was an appointee of the Nanking Government and the incident accordingly gave rise to rumors, unsubstantiated during February, of impending hostilities between General Chiang Kai-shek and the Kwangsi group. The Central Political Council concluded that an investigation should be made into the action of the Wuhan Branch Political Council in independently naming a new head to the Hunan Provincial Government and in conniving at his being put into office by force. (The meeting at which the decision in question was reached had been attended only by the Chairman of the Hupeh Provincial Government, the Wuhan Garrison Commander, and the Chief of Staff of General Li Tsung-jen.) The [Page 144] Council, however, appointed General Li Tsung-jen as one of the two members of a commission to undertake such an investigation. The other member was Dr. Ts’ai Yüan-p’ei, the Director of the Control Yuan. Ex post facto the Central Political Council likewise appointed General Ho Chien as the temporary Chairman of the Hunan Provincial Government.
Conditions in Canton
The Consul General at Canton informed the Legation that good order was maintained in his district during February but that rumors of an approaching conflict in the North and of a possible reaction in the South were insistent at the end of the month and so there was some uneasiness amongst upper class Chinese. Marshal Li Chai-sum33 returned to Canton from a conference of Kwangsi leaders at Wuchow at the end of February, announcing that he would leave again for Nanking shortly.
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