761.93/1768: Telegram

The Ambassador in China (Gauss) to the Secretary of State

707. General Wu Teh-chen, Secretary General of the Kuomintang, told Atcheson last evening that Sinkiang question is “quiet now”; that 3 or 4 divisions Central Government troops had gone to Sinkiang “to keep peace and order” but not to fight Mongols; that this would undoubtedly result in increase of Central Government control; that Soviets hated Provincial Chairman because they thought he had “betrayed” them and he would probably in due course be replaced. He said Soviet démarche indicated clearly that Soviets were determined that China should not get back Outer Mongolia but this was not of course a time for disputes with Soviet Government. He went on to suggest thesis that there existed Soviet-Jap understanding which permitted Japs to withdraw troops from Manchuria but was also [Page 782] willing to concede that Japs might safely calculate that Soviets were too occupied in Europe to undertake hostilities with Japs at this time and that troop withdrawals did not necessarily indicate existence of such understanding. As regards troop withdrawals, he said it was definite that some 5 Jap divisions had been moved to Hankow or Honan area and they may have gone to Indochina, South Seas or Burma (Chinese Intelligence states there are now 12½ Jap divisions in Burma).

Gauss