740.0011 Pacific War/3363: Telegram
The Chargé in China (Atcheson) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 29—11:15 a.m.]
1325. 1. In a telegram dated July 24 from Lanchow, Service states that, in addition to movement of Central Government troops north from Sian (Embassy’s 1276, July 24, noon) other Chungking troops are reported to be moving westward and troops and matériel such as artillery and tanks are said to be concentrated in the region of Pingliang (eastern Kansu), a strategic point on the western border of the Communist areas. Service reports that recruits are being sent into Kansu from the south and that block houses are being constructed in Lanchow area.
Service states that officials at Lanchow are suspicious and unwilling to discuss the Communist situation. The military preparations are said there to be against banditry in the province. Service observes that many signs point toward local fears of a movement by the Communists west into Kansu and that sources who have contact with the Communists expect such action within the next year. He states that the Lanchow authorities have refused permission to Lowdermilk and Phillips (Department’s technical experts) and their Chinese assistants to visit Ninghsia and explains that their route of travel would carry them through blockade zone near western border of Communist areas.
[Page 296]2. The circumstances described by Service would not seem to have materially changed the situation which a well informed Chinese Communist at Chungking states has eased considerably during the last week or 10 days. This informant gives four possible reasons for the lessened tension: 1, the firm stand taken by the Communist Party at a mass meeting at Yenan on July 9 which convinced the Kuomintang that the Communists were prepared to resist any armed attack (two Kuomintang liaison officers were said by the informant to have been present at the meeting); 2, the probable adverse foreign reaction to the possibility of civil war, as evinced by the interest displayed by foreign press correspondents at Chungking; 3, the reported telegram sent to the Central Government by Dr. T. V. Soong (Embassy’s 1254, July 22 [21], 4 p.m.) to the effect that the U.S. Government had expressed to him its serious concern over the possibility of civil war in China; and, 4, the efforts of General Chou En-lai in the discussions at Sian to bring about a better understanding of the Communist position on the part of General Hu Tsung-nan.