893.131/49
The Ambassador in China (Gauss) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 12, 1944.]
Sir: I have the honor to enclose a copy of a memorandum dated December 21, 1943,13 prepared by Second Secretary Clubb, recently on detail as Consul at Tihwa, in regard to prison conditions in Sinkiang.
Summary: As the Sinkiang authorities maintain strict secrecy in regard to prison conditions in that province little detailed information on the subject is available. It is known, however, that of the 200 to 300 émigré Russian army officers in Sinkiang in 1934 all but a handful are now in prison. Large-scale arrests of émigré Russians took place in 1934 and in 1938 and one well informed Russian émigré believes that easily one-half of the adult male émigré population of Sinkiang is now in prison (perhaps as many as 3,500 persons out of the total émigré population of approximately 14,000). One informed Chinese estimated that 20,000 persons were arrested in the 1937–38 period alone. In addition to émigré Russians, many Chinese (even youths of high-school age), members of the Turki, Kazak and other Sinkiang racial groups, members of scientific expeditions, and even British and other European missionaries have served terms in Sinkiang prisons. Prison conditions are described as “medieval” and torture, solitary confinement in rooms without light, et cetera, are common practices. Persons are sentenced to prison by “special courts” sitting in camera and once confined are rarely released. The most important prison center in Sinkiang is Tihwa, where there are said to be between 10 and 15 prisons. End of Summary.
Respectfully yours,
- Not printed. Mr. Clubb’s final paragraph was as follows: “It is suggested that, in the interests of a common humanity, the Department of State might wish to bring to the attention of the Chinese Ambassador at Washington the circumstance that it has received reports of this general nature and that in the opinion of the Department, in the light of China’s purported adherence to the democratic principles for which the United Nations are now fighting, it would inevitably react to China’s disadvantage should the present reprehensible state of affairs be permitted to continue.”↩