793.94/7138: Telegram
The Second Secretary of Legation in China (Atcheson) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 1—7:40 a.m.]
189. 1. I learn from a ranking official that during a recent Government meeting at which were read telegrams from Chinese missions abroad concerning the reactions of foreign governments to the situation in North China, the Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs made a point of stating that the American Government had shown a very cold attitude to China in these difficulties and that the British Government had been the most sympathetic.
2. The Central Kuomintang activities mentioned in my 181, June 24, 2 p.m.,9 have not been abandoned. I am confidentially informed by a responsible official that the control yuan has censored Huang Fu for his “weakness” in dealing with the Japanese military in North China last year and that as a result Huang has determined that he will not return to Peiping under any considerations, although the Japanese are understood to favor his return. The informant remarked that the Kuomintang had not yet learned its lesson, that its present activities were of the kind which had brought about the Japanese démarche in Hopei, and that the party’s continued subversive war against Japanese and against Chinese officials who were trying to keep peace with the Japanese would undoubtedly result in further Japanese interference in Chinese affairs.
3. Another dependable official source states that the Japanese have ceased to press for anything in writing in connection with Hopei and recently withdrew the demand that official appointments there must have prior Japanese approval. Far from viewing the latter development as hopeful, the informant expressed fear that party interference with appointments and appointees would soon irritate the Japanese military and destroy any benefit which might otherwise accrue from an honest effort by loyal officials to deprive the Japanese Army of excuses for taking further action.
4. To the Department and Peiping.
- Not printed.↩