893.00/15288
The Ambassador in China (Gauss) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 6.]
Sir: I have the honor to enclose excerpts from a memorandum of February 16, 194473 prepared by an officer of the Embassy, reporting the press conference of February 16 during which the Government spokesmen were questioned by foreign newspaper correspondents about the blockade of the Communist areas in north China.
Summary. The Minister of Information, Mr. Liang Han-tsao, and the Political Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr. K. C. Wu, denied that the Central Government maintained a blockade of the Communist areas, the former stating that General Chou En-lai, former Communist representative at Chungking, had gone from Chungking to Yenan (in June 1943) and that transports of the 18th Group Army (Communist) went back and forth (presumably between Communist and Central Government territory) without hindrance. Other questions centered on the status of the Communist armies and of their receipt of payment and supplies from the Central Government. The discussion became quite spirited to the evident embarrassment of the Government spokesmen and ended with the submission by the correspondents of a formal signed request, addressed to the Generalissimo, that they be permitted to proceed to the Communist-controlled areas. The letter containing the request was received by the Minister of Information without comment. End of Summary.
The weekly press conference held by the Chinese Government, at which are usually present the Minister of Information, the Political Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs and a Counselor of the Executive Yuan in the capacity of Government spokesmen, has in recent months witnessed the introduction of more and more controversial questions by the foreign newspaper correspondents stationed at Chungking. The Chinese news agencies and newspapers have representatives at the conferences, but they apparently take little or no active part in the discussions.
No mention of the subjects of the press conference was made in the Chinese press although the Central News Agency English Service carried an abridged account of the conference and foreign newspaper correspondents were permitted to file stories on the subject.
[Page 350]The press conference described in the enclosed memorandum touched upon the Central Government blockade of the Communist areas, the question of the publication of a translation of President Chiang Kai-shek’s book China’s Destiny and the message sent by Madame Sun Yat-sen to an American publication, a report of which was recently published in a British weekly (the last two items are being made the subject of separate despatches). That these matters should be given such publicity and made the subject of such open discussion cannot have been pleasing to the Chinese authorities. The Minister of Information stated during the midst of the discussion that he would call a special meeting of the correspondents in the near future in which he would discuss in detail all phases of the Kuomintang–Communist problem, which he considered a local problem and not a matter for publicity abroad.
Although the Government spokesmen made a categorical denial of the existence of the Chungking blockade of the Communist areas (a blockade which is a matter of common knowledge) and while there is believed to be little or no likelihood that the Central Government will permit foreign newspaper correspondents to visit the Communist areas, the knowledge that these correspondents are acquainted with the recent developments in the Kuomintang–Communist situation probably serves as a check to some extent on any possible desire of the Chungking authorities to take military action against the Communists. It also gives some indication to the Chinese of the power of a free press and is scarcely calculated to impress the Kuomintang with the desirability of such freedom in China. On the other hand, this persistent attention on the part of foreign correspondents to the Communist problem and their insistent inquiries regarding this question may serve to make the press conferences less productive for them in the future. Foreign knowledge of developments in this situation is also calculated to increase the efforts of many reactionary Kuomintang officials to limit contacts between Chinese and foreigners and to maintain surveillance of Chinese suspected of imparting information to foreigners.
The Kuomintang is becoming increasingly aware of the success of what they term “communist propaganda” as compared with the publicity emanating from their Party Ministry of Information and are at a loss to understand the reasons. A high ranking Ministry of Information official recently asked a foreign newspaper correspondent why the correspondents were so interested in the Communist question as they certainly weren’t all Communists. General Ho Ying-chin, Chief of Staff and Minister of War, is said to have made a strong attack during a weekly memorial meeting on the lack of effectiveness shown by Dr. Hollington K. Tong (Vice Minister of Information) [Page 351] and his International Publicity Department in combatting “communist propaganda” and on the manner in which he has allowed matters to get out of control.
Respectfully yours,
- Not printed.↩