893.00/15033
The Chargé in China (Atcheson) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 12.]
Sir: Reference is made to the Embassy’s despatch No. 1135 of May 3, 1943,64 in regard to an attack by bandits on American citizens in Kansu, and to the Embassy’s telegram No. 667 of May 8, 10 a.m. reporting minor revolts against Central Government authorities in several provinces in Free China.
There is enclosed a copy of a memorandum dated April 2762 prepared by the Secretary of Embassy at Chengtu, on the subject of the rise of banditry in Kansu Province. Mr. Drumright describes [Page 239] the circumstances of the attack on the American missionaries mentioned above and the impressions of one of those Americans with regard to the general question of banditry in Kansu. The missionary in question estimates that there were approximately 4,000 armed men in the band which attacked the two missionaries and he described them as being well equipped with rifles and horses and well organized. The band was composed of local inhabitants, partly Chinese and partly Moslem, and was said to be robbing both travelers and the local populace. The informant believes that the chief cause of this uprising was economic but states that one of their avowed aims was to massacre and expel Central Government officials who are going to Kansu in increasing numbers. This uprising began approximately two months ago and the bandits are now in considerable numbers in western and southern Kansu, one of the bandits boasting that they number 30,000. The American missionary expressed the belief that the bandits are acting in collusion with the Ko Lao Hui and other secret societies in Kansu. At the time of his departure from Lanchow in late April armed bandits were within five li of the city and road communications with southern Kansu were completely severed with only an occasional vehicle arriving over the road from Sian.
Conflicting reports continue to be received by the Embassy concerning the situation in Kansu. Central Government officials state that the uprising has been subdued and that it arose chiefly through opposition of the peasants to the unfair procedure followed in carrying out conscription, the burden falling entirely on the peasantry and wealthier individuals being exempt. Those officials also express the opinion that the Communists have taken the opportunity to spread the revolt. American and other observers, however, feel that the disturbances arose both from conscription of peasants for labor service with the army and from the collection of tax in kind by the provincial officials. There seems to have been a particularly strong feeling against the Provincial Chairman, Ku Cheng-lun. According to the Embassy’s information, the movement has not subsided but on the contrary has probably spread and the Central Government has rushed troops into the region from the Sian area and has employed planes to disperse the bandits. One American newspaper correspondent who traveled over the road from Chengtu to Lanchow at the beginning of the outbreak stated that the bandits roamed in groups of from 500 to 2,000, that the ineffectiveness of planes in quelling the disturbances did not augur well for the Central Government’s hopes of successfully using such methods against the Communists after the war and that the bandits were difficult to apprehend because of the ease with which they were able to turn from bandit to peasant. [Page 240] All observers appear to agree in the opinion that this uprising has no direct relation to other disturbances in Free China and that there has been no evidence of Japanese or puppet machinations.
While the various disturbances throughout Free China are not directly related, the picture taken as a whole is one of increasing unrest, of dissatisfaction with the Central Government and, perhaps most important, a general weariness from the strain of six years of war. Many Chinese observers now speak of the growing tension and the increasingly serious economic and financial strain upon the country as a whole. The friction between the Central Government authorities and the Szechuan military leaders (see Embassy’s despatch No. 1194 of May 18) has grave implications, for if the Central Government is unable to impose its authority in the province in which its capital is located, the situation in provinces more remote from the seat of the Government must be even less hopeful. Even should the Central Government easily quell the present local disturbances, the roots thereof will remain and unless the Government finds some solution of the problems confronting it other than through use of military force, it is not unlikely that there will be further instances of unrest which are certain to be used by the Japanese and puppets to advantage whenever possible.
Respectfully yours,