893.00/15197
The Ambassador in China (Gauss) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 10.]
Sir: I have the honor to enclose a copy of airgram A–20, November 9, 12 noon, from the Consul at Kweilin93 in regard to the reported activities of Marshal Li Chi-shen, Chairman of the Kweilin Office of the National Military Council, in arranging for an understanding between various military commanders in southeast China and with a similar group in the southwest.
Summary. Mr. Ringwalt states that according to reliable information Marshal Li is unobtrusively working to arrange for an understanding between various military commanders in south China for a plan of concerted action in the event of a collapse of Chungking authority either from internal or external causes. He is said to have reached an informal agreement with a group which includes General Yu Han-mou, General Chang Fa-kuei and General Hsueh Yueh, Commanders of the 7th, 4th and 9th War Zones, respectively, and to be negotiating with a similar group in the southwest under the sponsorship of General Lung Yun, Chairman of the Yunnan Provincial Government, who has brought into line a number of the Szechuan militarists. Mr. Ringwalt adds that the negotiations are in no sense a separatist movement but are designed to ensure unity in south and west China and continued resistance to Japan if Chungking authority should collapse. The negotiations are proceeding, so far as is possible, without the knowledge of the Central Government which would be expected to oppose such action if it dared. End of Summary.
It is believed that the above-described activities are of a pattern with the activities of puppet representatives, such as those described in the Embassy’s despatch No. 1682 of October 15.94 The various factions in China, including the puppets, are looking to their post-war position. While these negotiations reportedly being conducted by Marshal Li may not point to a separatist movement as long as the Chungking Government maintains its authority, the southeastern and southwestern military leaders are sufficiently astute to realize that there are still “unreconstructed” elements on the Chinese scene and that a Kuomintang attempt to force a military solution of the Communist problem after the war may bring about new alignments and possibilities for which they must make advance preparation. It is difficult to believe that the negotiations have as their aim the assurance of unity in the south and in the west merely in order to ensure continued resistance to the Japanese, especially in view of the inclusion in the group of such figures as General Yu Han-mou, General Lung Yun and the Szechuan militarists, none of whom has made any notable contribution toward the defeat of Japan. General Yu’s defense of Canton against Japanese attack was completely ineffectual and General Lung and the Szechuan generals have given to the Central Government in the war against Japan only such assistance and cooperation as was absolutely necessary and unavoidable.
Marshal Li has a record of opposition to the Kuomintang, having been relieved of his posts in 1928 and detained in Nanking during 1928–29 because of his connection with the revolt of the Kwangsi faction against the Nationalist Government. After being pardoned in 1931, he was again relieved of his posts and expelled from the Kuomintang following his implication in the Fukien independence movement in 1933–34. In 1938, however, after the outbreak of Sino-Japanese hostilities, he was made a member of the National Military Council and in 1941 was appointed head of the Generalissimo’s Headquarters at Kweilin for the five provinces of Fukien, Kiangsi, Kwangtung, Kwangsi and Hunan. Marshal Li is said by informed observers to have very little actual power in Kwangsi (which is believed to be largely under the control of General Li Tsung-jen) or in the other provinces under his headquarters but to have considerable prestige in China through his reputation for honesty and patriotism. Among the officers who served under Marshal Li when he was Chief of Staff of the First Kwangtung Army in 1921 are numbered such prominent figures as Generals Tsai Ting-kai, Chen Cheng, Yu Han-mou, Hsueh Yueh and Chang Fa-kuei. One of General Li Tsung-jen’s close associates is reported to have said that if anything happened to the Generalissimo his place would be taken by Marshal Li and General Chen [Page 382] Cheng, Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese Expeditionary Army—Li because of his standing and prestige and lack of undue ambition and Chen because of his position as the outstanding “coming” military figure in China.
It is not believed that these reported negotiations have any serious implications at present but, if the report is accurate, they would indicate that doubt exists in some quarters in regard to the continued stability and authority of the Central Government in the long-range future.
Respectfully yours,