893.00/7–2244
The Second Secretary of Embassy in China (Rice) to the Secretary of State 9
[Received August 15.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to my despatches no. 1, July 7 and no. 3, July 19, 1944, both containing information in regard to Chinese Communist territory, as well as to the despatch to the Department no. 23, May 22, 1944, of Second Secretary Everett F. Drumright,10 then on detail at Sian, on the subject of a visit to this city of a party of Chinese and foreign correspondents. The following information in regard to conditions in Communist territory near Yenan was supplied by the Reverend Cormac Shanahan, C. P., one of those correspondents, who since May 21 has paid a visit to the Second War Zone Headquarters of Marshal Yen Hsi-shan and has spent about month in the Yenan area, reaching Sian July 16 on his way back to Chungking. (Father Shanahan is the editor of the monthly China Correspondent, which he says is receiving some support from the Chinese Government or from the Ministry of Information. He states that as a Catholic priest he is unfriendly to Communism, and that he visited Communist territory partly because he wished to ascertain the status there of Catholic mission property and Catholic communicants. While the tone of his remarks seems to indicate that he approached the Communists in a spirit of some suspicion, he does not hesitate to cite those of their accomplishments which he considers praiseworthy.)
Summary: The atmosphere at Yenan is one of puritan drabness, and of isolation. There is little social mixing of the Communists and [Page 483] the local Shensi people. The Communists exercise very tight control over residents of the Border Area and the journalists, as in Kuomintang territory, were followed everywhere. Mao Tze-tung apparently, as the Party leader, is considered the only person competent to make statements in regard to present Party policy; he states that the principles of the Chinese Communist Party are those of international Communism, that he advocates a revolutionary San Min Chu I, that his Government is carrying out a policy of democratic centralization. Conditions at Yenan are unfavorable to the carrying out of religious work. The informant was favorably impressed by Communist troops, by apparent solutions of the foodstuffs and clothing problems, and by industrial achievements. He found no attention being paid to soil erosion problems and prices in the Yenan area very high; Chinese correspondents were able to buy opium from a shop at Yenan. The Ministry of Information official who accompanied the party attempted to discredit its foreign members in a conversation with an entertaining Communist official. While bitter about the treatment they have received, the Communists appeared to hope for a peaceful settlement of Kuomintang–Communist differences.
[Here follows detailed report.]
… Referring to the Kuomintang–Communist situation in this connection Ch’en Chia-kang, a secretary to Chou En-lai said, “We want peace. Anybody who tries to solidify differences and prevent the reaching of a settlement would be a Chinese traitor.[”]
Statements such as the above, the desire of the Communists for an end of the blockade and a moderation in the tone of the Yenan press the day before his departure encouraged Father Shanahan to think that a peaceful settlement may be reached. He seems to feel on balance, however, that the Communists will not dare to give up their army, that a showdown will occur after the war, and that the Communists will lose in military hostilities to the Central Government.
Respectfully yours,