893.00/15356
The Second Secretary of Embassy in China (Rice) to the Secretary of State 6
Sir: I have the honor to refer to my despatch no. 4, March 28, 19447 on the subject of Chinese-Tibetan affairs and to report as follows in regard to Tsinghai province and its administration by General Ma Pu-fang.
Summary: Ma Pu-fang, able and avaricious Moslem governor of Tsinghai, rules over about 2,000,000 people comprising principally Mohammedan and Han Chinese, Tibetans and Mongols. His power is based on control of an effective army and of a Moslem religious hierarchy as well as upon his own political acumen and administrative efficiency. Besides improving roads, planting trees, enforcing relatively high standards of municipal cleanliness and increasing the effectiveness of the provincial forces, he maintains, in a turbulent border area, a considerable degree of order. In his relations with the Central Government he still pursues a semi-independent course although in recent years Central Government influence in the province has increased. He has shown a determination to allow the Communists no foothold in the province; with the Japanese—a much more distant menace—he apparently has amicable trading relations. The Tibetans and other non-Chinese racial groups, however, are subjected to policies of severe and unequal treatment and Sinicization. The greatest fault of his administration consists in his displaying the traits of a robber baron and treating the whole province as his own personal economic enterprise.
[Here follows detailed report.]
Respectfully yours,