893.248/261

Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs (Hamilton)

Reference the telegraphic report, no. 256 Ammisca, from the Magruder Mission, Chungking, China, of February 10, 1942.

The writer of the report under reference does not, in my opinion, present his facts in accurate perspective.

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Some of the statements as to fact are accurate. Some of the statements as to fact reflect an attitude of a person who is too close to unpleasant detail and who has forgotten or overlooked broader aspects. Also, the report omits statements as to a number of significant facts.

The Chinese have fought for four and one-half years. They have suffered tremendously in blood, in treasure, in forced removal from their accustomed homes. They have done some remarkably good fighting and some remarkably heroic things. The fact that they have kept going along in the face of what they have suffered is the most remarkable development of the last few years in the Far East.

The Chinese, like the people of any other country old in historic experience, are adept in pitting one foreign nation against another and in endeavoring to cause foreign nations to fight China’s battles. There is much of inefficiency in present-day China—as there has been for centuries. There is undoubted incompetence. There is undoubted confusion. But, there is a real spirit of nationalism. There is also in present-day China something of a renaissance of spirit flowing from China’s contacts with the Occident, principally its contacts with the United States. There is also an awareness of what Japanese mastery of China will mean to the Chinese people. There is thus amongst all the shortcomings a spirit striving toward liberty.

There is, moreover,—and this the Magruder Mission’s report under reference emphasizes—the person of Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang Kai-shek’s determination, his persistence, his on the whole broad-gauge outlook constitute perhaps the most important element in China as a fighting ally.

On the spirit of liberty which is still alive in China and on Chiang Kai-shek it is believed that the United States should continue to build. No early and great offensive by China is to be expected. The Chinese probably lack the spirit, and they certainly lack the matériel (air force, artillery, et cetera) to undertake any large-scale and real offensive at this time.

Modern-day China represents a mass movement of people led by a great leader. It is on this that the United States should build and it is believed that, while such building will require time, patience, and great effort in many fields on our part, China can constitute a valued and effective ally in the common war effort.

M[axwell] M. H[amilton]