793.94/16617: Telegram
The Second Secretary of Embassy in China (Drumright) to the Secretary of State
[Received 12:55 p.m.]
190. 1. The information contained in Peiping’s 97 [96], April 3, 1 p.m.;87 and 118, May 12, 2 p.m. concerning the absence of Chinese military activity in the areas of North China garrisoned by Chinese Communist forces appears to substantiate the oft repeated understanding and complaint of the Chungking authorities that the Chinese Communists have been and still are shirking their military responsibilities vis-à-vis the Japanese. In fact in recent weeks several high Chinese officials including the Vice Chief of the General Staff have asserted that the Chinese Communists have reached an agreement with the Japanese to refrain from attacking each other. The Embassy is of course unable to confirm these assertions.
2. When Mr. Johnson went to take his leave of General Chiang on the afternoon of May 13,88 the latter referred briefly to the Communist problem. He said that many Americans and other Occidentals appeared to entertain the notion that the Chinese Communists espouse not the tenets of Marxism but those of socialism and to admit obliviously such a view he asserted is erroneous, for the Chinese Communists constitute nothing more than the “Fifth Columnists” of the Comintern accomplices of the Soviet.
3. I was informed yesterday by a Chinese military officer who is very close to the Generalissimo that the Communist forces in Shansi have recently been instructed to attack the Japanese in connection with the large offshore battle now raging in the Chungtiao Mountains of South Shansi, but he added that it remained to be seen whether the [Page 503] Communists would comply with orders. In this relation apparently some concern is felt here regarding the South Shansi operations where units of seven Japanese divisions are said to be engaged in an endeavor to clear the mountains of strongly entrenched Chinese troops and sever Chinese communications across the Yellow River. Although not wholly ruled out, it is generally felt that the Japanese are not yet present in sufficient strength to attempt the reduction of Loyang and Sian.
Sent to the Department; repeated to Peiping, Peiping please air mail code text to Tokyo.