893.00/14527: Telegram
The Counselor of Embassy in China (Lockhart) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 28—12:10 p.m.]
99. A reliable American missionary informant at Paotingfu and American and other foreign missionaries in southern and southwestern Hopei have recently reported that during the past month or so units of the Eighth Route Army in their districts have been driving out Chinese forces (such as those under General Lu Chung-lin) who are more or less under Central Government control. The “Communists” are reported to have carried out their activities in a ruthless manner, executing many captured officers, and have manifested a definite dislike and disregard for Central Government military and civil authority. The Paotingfu informant states that the most disquieting feature of the situation is the oppressive treatment by the “Communists” of the Chinese populations of the areas in question, which, he reports, has resulted in a revulsion of feeling against the “Communists”; [Page 304] he believes that if this sort of treatment continues it may lead to a much more favorable attitude on the part of the civilian populations toward the Japanese controlled regimes. The various informants report only on areas in southern and southwestern Hopei and do not know whether this state of affairs prevails in other areas.
The Paotingfu informant states that he has been informed by Chinese contacts that these recent “Communist” activities have been carried out under orders from Mao Tze-tung and Chu Teh,96 although he cannot confirm this. As friction has been reported from time to time between “Communists” and Central Government forces in northwest China, it is not improbable that Eighth Route Army headquarters may have ordered attacks on the so-called Central Government units involved but local observers express doubt that those headquarters have issued orders for the oppressive treatment of Chinese populations as observers in districts held by “Communists” in this province have previously reported a friendly cooperation between civilians and “Communists”. Some local observers believe that the “Communist” units concerned in the activities under discussion may not be under effective control by Eighth Route Army headquarters but in any case this oppressive treatment of civilian populations is harming the Chinese cause and is creating in the areas in question a situation more favorable for Japanese controlled regimes.
Repeated to Chungking, Shanghai. Code text by air mail to Tokyo.
- Leaders of the Chinese Communist Party and forces.↩