893.00/8–144
Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Chinese Afairs (Vincent)82
While the majority of the Chinese people continue to place their faith in the leadership of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, there has been a marked decline in his prestige during the past year.
The attached despatch (no. 58, August 1, 1944)82a from Kunming discusses the changed attitude towards Chiang of Chinese liberals at Kunming, which is believed to be symptomatic of liberal sentiment throughout China. Within the past year liberal Chinese have come to regard the Generalissimo as too static, stubborn, and shortsighted to undertake vitally needed democratic, military and economic reforms. Most Chinese liberals now take the view that, in spite of the urgent need for reforms in the Chinese Government, the Generalissimo will not be persuaded to effect them; that progressive elements within the Government can exert no influence; and that the Generalissimo, on the strength of his firmly established authority and the certainty of allied victory over Japan, will “ride out” the war in power and, with his clique of second-rate men, direct the building of future China. You may care to read through the first three paragraphs of the despatch.
The attitude displayed by these “intellectual” liberals is as much an indictment of themselves as of Chiang. They are ineffectual because they complain but do nothing. They seem incapable either of producing strong leadership or of seeking such leadership around which to unite. This, in a measure, accounts for their extreme pessimism. Their estimate of Chiang’s character is substantially correct but he may be capable, on grounds of expediency, to effect some governmental changes, and, if he is not, it is very unlikely that he will be able to retain his leadership once the war is over.