893.00/15072
The Chargé in China (Atcheson) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 24.]
Sir: There are enclosed a copy of despatch No. 2 of June 3, 1943 from the Second Secretary at Sian and a copy of a memorandum, transmitted therewith,94 of a conversation with General Hsiung Pin, Chairman of the Shensi Provincial Government. The despatch and memorandum deal with conditions in Shensi and with the Chinese communists, whose principal base is in the northern part of that province.
It is stated in the despatch that Shensi has been subjected to a very heavy drain on its supply of foodstuffs because, as a result of the Honan famine, it has had to provide a larger proportion of the food required by the large military concentrations in the northwest, which according to a Chinese source include twenty armies in Shensi and eastern Kansu alone. Prices in Shensi have been very high and the people increasingly restive, but peace and a measure of stability thus far have nevertheless been maintained there.
According to General Hsiung, the communists are enveloped on three sides by National Government forces and for that reason have been unable to expand their special area in northern Shensi. He stated that their armaments are inferior, that they are inactive against the Japanese and that as a result of their poverty they have led a very bitter existence and have been forced to produce opium for shipment to occupied areas. General Hsiung said he did not believe the communists could gain control of North China and Manchuria when the Japanese withdraw therefrom because they lack sufficient military strength and popular support and because the puppet forces under the command of Wang Ching-wei, with whom the National Government is in touch, will cooperate with the latter in opposing the communists.95
Respectfully yours,
- Neither printed.↩
- In a memorandum dated August 13, 1943, Augustus S. Chase of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs observed: “Of especial interest is General Hsiung’s virtual admission that the Chungking Government has an understanding with Wang Ching-wei’s puppet forces which calls for joint opposition to the Communists following the withdrawal of the Japanese from north China and Manchuria.”↩