893.00/10–1445: Telegram
The Chargé in China (Robertson) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 15—11:38 a.m.]
1791. Summarized below is Military Attaché’s report for week ending October 13:
Of outstanding significance with respect to North China military situation was entry last week of American Marines into Peiping. This move has enabled General Sun Lien-chung, Commander of Eleventh War Zone, to receive surrender of Japanese troops in Peiping, thereby removing Communist menace which has been growing steadily since war ended. Although area outside city is still filled with Chinese Communists, presence within Peiping of several thousand U. S. troops has withheld from them their principal objective and transfer of Central Govt forces from other sections of China into region will make their positions less tenable.
[Page 580]It is acknowledged by Communist sources that American assistance to Central Govt in assuming control over areas formerly occupied by Japanese makes Communist position difficult and makes it impossible for them to take over areas which they want. The influence of this policy on Communist attitude toward U. S. is profound. Ill feeling towards the U. S. is steadily increasing and is apparent in statement made recently to American liaison group in Yenan by General Chu Teh, Communist Commander-in-Chief, to effect that attempts by Americans to occupy Communist-held areas without his permission could have serious results.77 Full significance of this stern warning can be determined only by willingness of Communists to play a principal part in these serious results. A series of occurrences since Japanese surrender has disproved to considerable extent Communists’ ability to back their verbal threats with military action.
Chinese Communists are no match for Central Govt troops acting with American assistance.
Therefore, their area of influence has been shrinking and center of their power withdrawing to north. One strong indication of this is contained in another report from American liaison group in Yenan, stating that headquarters of Communist govt was prepared to move from Yenan to Kalgan but cannot do so because it lacks means of transportation. Discussions just concluded between Gissimo and Mao Tse-tung78 clearly demonstrate that Central Govt knows well difficulties of Communists in this regard. While both parties reached agreement concerning number of disputed points, vital question of Communist military and political integrity in North China could not be resolved so that no truce was reached. Impasse between Central Govt and Communists is still fundamentally unaltered. New developments in Communist activities should be brought about by Mao Tse-tung [’s] return to Yenan.