Office of the Historian

893.00/13531: Telegram

The Counselor of Embassy in China (Peck) to the Secretary of State

Nanking, June 11, 1936—9 a.m.
[Received 8:45 p.m.]

177. My 176, June 10, 1 p.m.

1.
Standing Committee of the Central Executive Committee yesterday set July 10 for convening of plenary session and it is expected that an appeal will shortly be made to Southwestern leaders to participate with an ostensible view to adopting a common policy towards Japan, the Southwest and the National Government. A delegation of important leaders may be sent to Canton to make the appeal, and Kung is being mentioned in this connection.
2.
We learn from reliable official sources that press reports of the incursion of Kwangsi troops into southern Hunan are in part true and Kwangsi troops have gone north beyond Lingling (Yungchow), south central Hunan, and others at least to Chenhsien (Chenchow), southeastern Hunan. The first body is reported to have passed through Lingling June 8 and to number 2000. Reports that two bodies have converged at and occupied Hengyang (Hengchow) have not been confirmed.
3.
Reports concerning any National Government plans for stopping the advance of Southwestern troops northward are conflicting. The official report from official sources is that the first Government line be [is] just south of Changsha.
4.
Prior to the present internal crisis some 12 members of Italian air mission were transferred from Nanchang to Nanking and several planes were brought here. A foreign pilot attached to Chiang Kai Shek headquarters has stated that the Italian instructors are to be replaced by Americans, 22 of whom have been engaged in the United States including 2 army reserve officers. (Selection was probably made by Holbrook, formerly in Hangchow school.) Reliably reported that Chiang Kai Shek “has asked the National Aviation Corporation to remove its headquarters from Shanghai to Chengtu [”] [Page 203] and it is understood that the corporation is still negotiating with his representatives concerning this request.
5.
Repeated to Department and Peiping, paragraphs 2 and 3 repeated to Hankow.
Peck