893.00/14263: Telegram
The Consul General at Hankow (Josselyn) to the Secretary of State
[Received 4 p.m.]
The three outstanding Chinese Communist political leaders south of the Yellow River, Chou En Lai, Wang Ming and Chin Po Ku, departed from here about a month ago for a brief conference at Yenan. During the past 2 weeks they have repeatedly been reported as imminent[ly] returning; yet they have thus far not arrived in Hankow.
[Page 300]The Yenan conferees are reliably reported to be formulating party policy to be followed after the fall of Wuhan.12
The prolonged absence of the three leaders at the present juncture when it would be logical to expect them to be exerting every effort towards mobilization of the people for the defense of Wuhan together with their preoccupation with a policy to be followed after the fall of Wuhan suggests that the Communists have abandoned hope for mobilization of the people in accordance with their plans, Central Government obstruction having proved insurmountable.
Repeated to Chungking, Peiping, Shanghai.
- The tri-cities, Wuchang, Hankow, Hanyang.↩