893.00/14565: Telegram
The Ambassador in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 20—8:32 a.m.]
353. The Embassy is informed that, on July 18, Sun Fo23 told an American correspondent that as a result of negotiations held during the past 2 weeks between Kuomintang negotiators (Chiang Kai-shek, Ho Ying-chin and Pai Chung-hsi) on the one side and Chinese Communist negotiators (Chou En-lai, Chen Po-ku and Yeh Chien-ying) on the other hand, an agreement has been reached settling major points of contention between the 2 groups. Although the precise terms of the settlement were not divulged to the correspondent, he was told by his informant that they included delimitation of the area of Communist control in central Shensi to 18 hsien as against an original Communist demand for 21 hsien; and a decision on the part of the National Government to recognize the existence of, and pay the usual military subsidy to, 6 or perhaps 7 Chinese Communist regular divisions rather than the 3 Communist divisions hitherto subsidized by the central authorities.
The informant stated that the Communists were successful in resisting a Kuomintang demand that the new 4th Route Army be transferred from Central China to Hopei, it appearing that the Kuomintang is anxious to eradicate Communist influence in Central China while the Communists are desirous of retaining their foothold there.
It would appear that the significance of the reported agreement, apart from fostering continuance of cooperation between the two groups, lies in the granting by the Kuomintang of concessions, albeit perhaps minor, to the Communists—a measure that the Kuomintang has hitherto been reluctant to adopt. It seems reasonable to conclude that external developments which apparently tend to increase China’s dependence on Soviet Russia for external assistance may have influenced the Kuomintang to adopt a policy of compromise with the Chinese Communists.
Sent to the Department. Repeated to Peiping. Peiping please mail code text to Tokyo.
- Member of standing committee of the Kuomintang Central Executive Committee and President of Chinese Legislative Yuan.↩