Office of the Historian

893.00/13190: Telegram

The Second Secretary of Legation in China (Atcheson) to the Secretary of State

Nanking, August 22, 1935—2 p.m.
[Received 3:50 p.m.]

252. My 251, August 21, 12 p.m.78

1.
I am informed by the Foreign Office that Wang Ching-wei has withdrawn both resignations and will continue in office as Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs as well as President of the Executive Yuan, although his health may prevent him from a full resumption of duties for some time. His decision followed a further conference with Chiang Kai-shek and formal rejection of his resignation by the Standing Committee of the Central Executive Committee this morning. This action of Wang’s would seem to indicate that both his foreign and his domestic policies have been vindicated by Chiang Kai-shek and hence by the Government and that little if any change in government policies with respect to international relations or to internal political problems is to be anticipated in the near future. The other Ministers, whose resignations have all been formally rejected by the Executive Yuan, are expected to remain in office at present but authoritative information on this point is lacking.
2.
From other sources which have been usually found [reliable?] I hear that Chiang Kai-shek plans to return to Chengtu by plane tomorrow. His prospective departure so soon after the withdrawal of Wang’s resignation is taken as an indication that the crisis in the Government has passed and that there will probably not occur any further internal political developments of importance until the sixth plenary session of the Central Executive Committee which is to open September 20th. It is of possible interest in this connection that in [Page 339] predicting Wang’s continuance in office as Yuan President under date of August 21 the Central News Agency at Nanking, which has close official associations, stated that current reports of the early return to China of Hu Han-min “are discredited in official circles here”.
3.
To Tokyo by mail.
Atcheson
  1. Not printed.↩