893.00/15063: Telegram
The Chargé in China (Atcheson) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 20—3:33 p.m.]
1214. 1. The secretary of Chou En-lai, Communist Party representative at Chungking, has furnished an officer of the Embassy the following information regarding Communist-Kuomintang developments in addition to that reported in Embassy’s 1183, July 14, noon.
- (a)
- On July 9 General Hu Tsung-nan replied to General Chu Teh’s message (Embassy’s 1125, July 8, noon) stating that the transfer of Chungking troops from Honan to the Central Government-Communist border regions in Shensi is not for the purpose of commencing military operations against the Communists but merely represents the sending of his second line troops to that area to relieve troops already stationed there. (The informant does not believe that there has been any withdrawals of Chungking troops from the region in question.) Hu also explained that he had gone to the Lochwan area to carry out a routine inspection of his troops. Chou and Lin Piao after being entertained by Hu at Sian departed for Yenan on July 13 with the convoy of 4 trucks with which they left Chungking and which had undergone a rigorous inspection at Paochi, Shensi. General Chang Chih-chung, head of the military training board, has denied to the Communists at Chungking that there have been any Chungking troop concentrations in Shensi.
- (b)
- Chiang Kai-shek suddenly called a meeting of the Standing Committee of the People’s Political Council at Chungking on July 13 at which he stated the constitutional government would be established by the Central Government before the end of the war on two conditions: (1) “unification of military orders” (all armed forces under one command) and (2) “unification of governmental orders” [Page 289] (all governmental authority under one head). There was no discussion of these points by the members of the committee present among whom was a Communist representative. [(]Chou is expected to return to Chungking in time for the meeting of the People’s Political Council scheduled for mid-September.) These points do not represent any general change in Chiang’s attitude toward the Communists although it is the first time he has mentioned constitutional government since 1941. No change in the general situation is to be expected although the Communists are willing to make some concessions such as giving up the border government at Yenan provided the local officials at the present Communist controlled districts are either Communists or Kuomintang officials friendly to the Communists. While Soviet Russia is sympathetic toward the Chinese Communists, there is no direct connection between the Chinese Communist Party and the Soviet Government and the latter is not giving any form of aid to the Chinese Communists.
2. It is not believed that the foregoing circumstances indicate any definitive change in the situation except that the recent tension is perhaps abating. Chiang’s reference to constitutional government may be merely a buildup for the issuance of a manifesto by the PPC when it meets in September with a view to throwing the blame on the Communists for failure to reach a settlement of Kuomintang-Communist differences. Dr. Sun Fo (whose leanings are in general liberal) stated to me privately last evening his opinion, which tends to be in confirmation of ours, that the Chungking troop concentrations in the “border area” are for purposes of pressure on the Communists and that hostilities are not likely to result.