793.94119/535: Telegram
The Chargé in China (Peck) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 22—10:30 a.m.]
284. Under date April 18 the local press published an important statement by General Chiang Kai Shek in reply to questions propounded by correspondents. Following are excerpts as translated by Embassy:
General Chiang recalled his statement of December 26, last, and reiterated that the “establishment of a new order in East Asia” is merely a new phase for the Japanese absorption of China. He went on to say that Konoye’s term constituted “a Japanese plot not only to attain hegemony in East Asia and annihilate China, but also to destroy the interests of all powers in the Pacific”. He heaped scorn upon those who advocated peace on the basis of Konoye’s terms and declared that “there is absolutely no latitude for peace and no advocacy of surrender framed in words however ingenious or subtle can have any power to shake the determination of our whole country in any contingency”. Apparently referring to Wang Ching Wei and other Chinese advocating peace, General Chiang said “they have already been sentenced to death spiritually and are really not worth mentioning” and explained that their disposition “depends entirely on their future activities”.
In reply to a question as to the ultimate settlement of the conflict, General Chiang said Japan has been reduced to the status of a second rate power by Chinese resistance and that accelerated resistance will render Japan’s position unstable. He said peace could not be realized until the Japanese “come to a true recognition of China’s strength of resistance” and until “the Japanese militarists thoroughly realized their mistakes, voluntarily give up their aggression and effect a fundamental change in their traditional policy”. If the Japanese persist in their present policy, General Chiang asserted, “there is not only absolutely no possibility of the war coming to a conclusion but there will never be peace in East Asia”.
General Chiang defended the military strategy of “procuring time through sacrifice of space and gaining the final triumph through the accumulation of small victories” and declared that the present military position insofar as China is concerned is better than he had expected when planning for the present conflict.
Translation of complete text will be forwarded by air mail.
The press gives full support to the Generalissimo’s views and attaches significance to them in the light of Wang Ching Wei’s recent [Page 167] utterances and of the visit of the British Ambassador to Chungking.
Repeated to Peiping. Peiping please mail to Tokyo.