893.00/10–244
The Ambassador in China (Gauss) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 24.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to the Embassy’s despatch no. 2940, September 6, 1944, on the subject of “Kuomintang-Communist Negotiations: Transmission of Recent Pertinent Documents Relating Thereto”, and to enclose copies in English translation of the following supplementary documents:16
- (a)
- Four proposals submitted by General Lin Piao in Chungking, 1943; General Lin arrived in Chungking in October, 1942 to discuss with the Kuomintang authorities a settlement of Kuomintang–Communist problems; these proposals are supposed to represent a statement of his position at that time;
- (b)
- Text of the Proposed Verbal Agreement Intended to be Supplementary to the Central Government’s Proposals of June 5, 1944; it promises that, if the Central Government terms are accepted, the latter [Page 627] will (1) consider withdrawal of military blockade, and (2) set free Communist Party members under detention;
- (c)
- Letter from Mr. Lin Tsu-han, Communist Representative, to General Chang Chih-chung and Dr. Wang Shih-chieh, Central Government representatives, dated June 4, 1944, transmitting to the latter the revised proposals of the Chinese Communists, the original twenty having been reduced to twelve (See Documents 2 and 3 in despatch under reference);
- (d)
- Reply from Dr. Wang Shih-chieh and General Chang Chih-chung dated August 10, 1944 to the Communist Party’s 12–point proposal; Central Government representatives express surprise at delay in receipt of reply from Yenan, and refer, inter alia, to “vague and empty phrases” in Communist communication;
- (e)
- Mr. Lin Tsu-han’s reply, dated August 30, 1944, to the above; as Communist representative, he says that Central Government representatives’ letter of August 10, “is entirely contrary to facts and is a wrong interpretation”;
- (f)
- Further reply by Dr. Wang Shih-chieh and General Chang Chih-chung, dated September 10, 1944; the Central Government representatives assert that Mr. Lin’s letter of August 30 “abounds with flamboyant terms, glossing over the real facts, and is therefore completely contrary to our expectations”.
These documents, together with the “minutes” of the Sian conversations between Lin Tsu-han and General Chang Chih-chung and Dr. Wang Shih-chieh (Document 1 attached to despatch no. 2940 of September 6, 1944), the “Second Proposals” of the Chinese Communist Party submitted on June 4, 1944 (Document 3, ibid.), and the “Proposals of the National Government …” (Document 4, ibid.), were made public in the course of the report made to the People’s Political Council on the Kuomintang-Communist negotiations at its session on Friday, September 15, 1944, Mr. Lin Tsu-han speaking for the Communists and General Chang for the Kuomintang.17
The most cursory reading of the enclosures, and particularly of the letters exchanged by the representative of the Communists on the one hand and the representatives of the Kuomintang on the other, is sufficient to make clear the character of the negotiations of which they are a partial record. It is obvious that no negotiations in which the proposals of one party are called—much less stated in writing to be—“vague and empty phrases” and his statements are challenged as false, or in which the other is asserted—also in writing—to be speaking “entirely contrary to facts”, would be very likely to succeed. A careful study of these and the documents previously submitted would appear to substantiate the conclusions earlier suggested by the Embassy: that neither side is actually negotiating in the strict interpretation of that word, but rather that each is attempting by political maneuvering to secure objectives which his protagonist considers mortal to himself. [Page 628] It thus appears impossible for either to yield to the other in this struggle which each conceives more as a bitter conflict than as a field of compromise.
Respectfully yours,