893.00/15020: Telegram
The Chargé in China (Atcheson) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 25—5:25 p.m.]
771. The announcement of May 22 of the dissolution of the Comintern has been very well received by Chinese officials. However, with their highly developed interest in post-war problems they seem generally to interpret it more in the terms of those problems as indicating Soviet willingness to cooperate in the postwar world than as a step forward which might have among other things practical application to certain of China’s present problems. Over the weekend I had opportunity to see socially a considerable number of important Chinese and I did not receive from their conversation any impression that consideration has been or will be given to realizing the Soviet action as a possible springboard for moves toward resolving the dissension between the Chinese Communists and the Kuomintang. On the contrary in the opinion of some observers it seems not unlikely that Kuomintang reactionaries will not consider that further repressive [Page 241] measures against the Chinese Communists may now, at least from the point of view of Sino-Soviet relations, be more safely applied.
Repeated to Kuibyshev.