793.94/7475
The Ambassador in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 4.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to my despatch of November 6, 1935, from Shanghai, reporting Dr. Hu Shih’s views with regard to’ possible resistance to Japanese aggression, and to summarize comment on this subject made yesterday to a member of the Embassy by Dr. Chiang Monlin, Chancellor of the National Peking University, who is at present in Nanking and who is in close touch with China’s principal political leaders.
(In this connection, it may be of interest first to report that Dr. Chiang stated that the Japanese Assistant Military Attaché at Peiping, [Page 404] Major Takahashi, had included Dr. Chiang’s name in the list of those Chinese which he had recently given to General Sung Che-yuan with the request that they be arrested, that General Sung had sent a private messenger to Dr. Chiang to warn him to leave before arrest, but that Dr. Chiang intends to return to Peiping within a few days and to remain there. He expressed the belief that he will not be arrested but that, if he is, it will injure the prestige of the Japanese military considerably in Tokyo and elsewhere. He said that Dr. Hu Shih’s name was not on the list.)
In speaking of possible resistance to the Japanese, Dr. Chiang, who had an hour or two before been in conversation with General Chiang Kai-shek, said that China has now given in to the Japanese to the limit and has decided that it will refuse to accede to any Japanese demands which may be presented in the future (unless they are of a minor and unimportant nature), thereby putting the Japanese military in the position of having to decide whether they will fight or not. Dr. Chiang stated that the Chinese are preparing for resistance to the Japanese in case the Japanese force them to fight; for example, there are now 100,000 Chinese troops in Kiangsu and Chekiang Provinces. He expressed the opinion that the Chinese soldiers would fight well because of their bitter hatred of Japan and that the Chinese are equal militarily to the Japanese except in airplanes and tanks. He stated that Generals Feng Yu-hsiang and Yen Hsi-shan, now in Nanking, will not return to the north but will stay in central China to participate in resistance and that the pending arrival of an important Southwestern leader (not General Li Tsung-jen but Dr. Tsou Lu, President of the Sun Yat Sen University at Canton) shows that the Southwest will probably unite with General Chiang Kai-shek against the Japanese.
Respectfully yours,