Foreign Relations of the United States, 1946, The Far East: China, Volume IX

Marshall Mission Files, Lot 54–D270

Minutes of Meeting of Committee of Three at 5 Ning Hai Road, Nanking, June 23, 1946, 10:35 a.m.

Nanking, June 23, 1946, 10:35 a.m.

Present:	General Yu Ta Wei
	General Chou En Lai
	General Marshall
Also present:	General Kuo
	General Pee
	General Hsu
	Mr. Ling
	Mr. Sah
	Mr. Shih
	General Huang
	General Tung
	General Teng
	Mr. Chang
	Colonel Caughey
	Colonel Hill
	Captain Soong

General Yu: General Pee just told me that General Hsu is unable to come this morning and I can only discuss paragraph c.

General Marshall: General Yu tells me General Hsu will not be able to be here this morning and that he, General Yu, is only prepared to discuss paragraph c of the paper we had yesterday. He is not sufficiently informed on the remaining paragraphs. Therefore, if it is agreeable to General Chou, he would like to start on paragraph c, especially since he has his communications people here. Is that acceptable?

General Chou: Yes.

General Marshall: The meeting will come to order. General Yu, will you present your statement.

General Yu: I had the pleasure of contacting General Chou twice and Colonel Hill a number of times, on the restoration of communications. Although our discussions have not entered into details, the general idea is now comprehended by both sides. From my contacts with General Chou, I can see he is very sincere in this problem, as its solution will greatly benefit the people of this country. Today’s discussion may amicably accomplish some solution. The Government stand on this problem is that we hope sincerely that the restoration of communications will be accomplished very soon. The sooner the better. I gather from General Chou, directly and indirectly, that they hope certain points can be arranged. I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate four points and I ask General Chou, if he cares to, to make amendments. The first point is the abolishing (the destruction) of blockhouses.

General Marshall: Does he mean blockhouses or fortifications.

General Yu: The exact wording is in special directive No. 4.⁶⁶ The second point is the employment of Communist personnel in railway administration.

Third, General Chou said to me in a very frank way, he hopes that the Government will not send any railroad police to these sectors which have been repaired.

The fourth point, General Chou hoped that all communications, that is other than railroad, would be restored. The Government agreed entirely in principle. We would like to lay special stress on the restoration of railway communications first. If General Chou accepts that principle and there is no other objection, I don’t want to enter into the details regarding that point.

Regarding the destruction of fortifications, or blockhouses, it is stated in the general directive of Executive Headquarters, No. 4, that those fortifications and blockhouses which impede railway communications should be destroyed. In spite of the fact that it is stipulated in the original agreement that only such fortifications as interfere with operation of the railroad communications shall be destroyed, we are prepared to destroy all fortifications, blockhouses, etc. lying within 1,000 meters on either side of the railway line. However, we will take the compromise solution suggested by General Marshall that such installations as are needed to defend railway stations, bridges, tunnels, workshops, storage depots, railroad stations, water points, etc., shall be exempted. We agree to the destruction of all fortifications, etc., in the area within 1,000 meters of either side of the railroad.

I understand that General Chou told Colonel Hill that the statement I just read was too general. General Chou wishes to have the stations and bridges specified, such as major stations. The Government is willing to discuss it. Regarding the last statement, General Chou would like to make it more specific. I wish to know if General Chou has any more remarks.

General Yu read a prepared statement on communications.

General Marshall: I would like Colonel Hill to present the modifications and precise stipulations that he proposed in connection with that Government statement.

Colonel Hill: There is apparently agreement that fortifications, etc., shall be destroyed except those required for defense of vital railroad installations. A definition of vital installations is the question which is not agreed and not settled. In an attempt to reach a definition that would be agreeable, I propose to define vital installations as railroad stations of the first, second and third classes; all tunnels; and bridges with a total span of more than 5 meters.

General Marshall: General Chou, will you comment at this time?

General Chou: Inasmuch as General Yu’s statement covers many general terms, more or less like a preliminary statement, I want to know whether we are now entering into discussion paragraph by paragraph or are we still talking in general terms.

General Marshall: What is your desire?

General Yu: Any way you want it.

General Marshall: Is it agreeable to General Chou to proceed paragraph by paragraph but in view of what has just happened, to start with paragraph 5 and then go back to paragraph 1. Unless there is objection we will proceed with a general statement by General Chou.

General Chou: As far back as February, we reached agreement on the restoration of communications in general terms. Subsequently in March, the Committee of Three began to work out temporary measures specifying that repair work be started on certain lines while at the same time, fortifications be destroyed. What then happened was that while repair work was started on certain lines, the problem of fortifications could not be solved. Many field teams decided that fortifications should be destroyed, but the Chinese representatives of Executive Headquarters could not agree between themselves about interpretations of that paragraph stated in the restoration of communications agreement. It thus put the American representative in a very difficult position. Therefore in April, the Three Commissioners referred this matter to the Committee of Three but on account of the Northeast situation, the Committee of Three could not enter into discussion on the restoration of communications. The subject was delayed up to now. The destruction of fortifications was also delayed. As a consequence, military hostilities in China proper mounted and the restoration of communications was suspended. This is the cause and effect. Now we are coming back to where we started. We are going to make a new decision to give priority to the repair work of railroad lines. In doing this, it cannot help but get involved with the destruction of fortifications.

When talking about restoration of communications, I agree to start with railway communications so as to be consistent with concessions made previously. Repair work on railway lines could be started before everything else. During my last meeting with General Yu, we agreed that repair work along three lines of railroads should be taken as a start. To that I agreed from the very beginning. Therefore, you may say a general understanding has been reached.

In connection with that, we have the fortification problem. It is not a matter of our claim, because it is stated in previous agreements that all fortifications on and along the communications lines should be destroyed. Since we are only talking about railroads, we will deal only with fortifications on and along railroads. Since the Government agrees to the restoration of all kinds of communications, fortifications along such other lines would enter later into our discussion. This is not the subject we are discussing now, but certainly at a later time.

The second point is on the administration of railroad lines. The technical aspect of railway lines in Communist areas will be taken up by the Ministry of Communications. As far as administration control is concerned before reorganization of the government, an interim arrangement has to be worked out. We agree with the two points laid down in the first draft prepared by Colonel Hill. These two points are:

a. The control will be unified under the Ministry of Communications.

b. On the other hand the Government recognizes that in the Communist areas, the Communist Party would nominate the personnel who will pass the examination given by Railway Control teams. The Communist Party further has the right to have representation in the administration and control of those railroad lines which concern the Communist Party. The reason we ask for such an interim arrangement is that in regard to the administration, there is no unified control. As railroads are cut, we have to find some method of unifying those railroads before the reorganization of the Government. It is not a matter of placing a claim on the Government, but rather it is a matter of a compromise to be made by both parties.

Third is the railway police, an entirely new proposal which has never been mentioned in the agreement on restoration of communications. The agreement only stipulated that prior to reorganization of the Government, the protection of railroads would be undertaken by local troops of both parties. Apart from that, an unarmed train guard would be organized to ride on the train. The arrangement to be adopted after reorganization of the Government will be worked out later. It has no connection with the interim arrangement. According to the claim that either now or when the traffic is resumed, the Government is to send armed railway police organized on a national basis comprising 18 regiments to enter Communist territories, this proposal is not acceptable to us for two reasons:

a. Because it is contrary to the previous agreement.

b. We have many objections to the organization of a railway police as such. Therefore, I propose that we take the amended draft prepared by Colonel Hill as the basis to discuss the paper item by item because this draft was written with the views of both parties with the intention of getting the two parties together. There are only a few points which need discussion. Such a procedure would facilitate our business.

General Marshall: General Yu, you have heard General Chou’s proposal. Is that an agreeable procedure to you?

General Yu: I propose that I read my draft first to see what extent we can use Colonel Hill’s draft⁶⁷ which is a revision of my draft as an agreeable compromise. I want to read my draft first.

General Marshall: Does General Chou possess a copy?

General Yu: I will read it.

General Chou: I am opposed to that procedure because I never knew of the draft before. I only knew of the draft prepared by Colonel Hill as a compromise.

General Marshall: Does General Chou oppose General Yu’s reading his draft?

General Chou: Yes. We all have confidence in Colonel Hill. I still insist that we use his draft as a basis. If General Yu has any correction in words or sentences, then General Yu can add his suggestion to it. The procedure of the discussion should be based on Colonel Hill’s draft.

General Marshall: I think there is some misunderstanding here. No decision has been reached as a basis for discussion. As I understand it, General Yu had merely asked to read his draft at this stage before discussion item by item of whatever draft was intended. Is that correct, General Yu?

General Yu: I only asked that I read my draft. I have no objection to General Chou reading a draft if he has any.

General Chou: I am rather surprised with General Yu’s statement. During the past 16 days, all drafts prepared by Colonel Hill were based on the assistance and meetings of both sides. It never entered my mind that there should be any draft prepared by himself or by the Government. If the 15-day truce had not been extended, it is likely that we could not have reached an agreement.

General Marshall: I think there still remains a confusion of the issue. As I understand it, there is a proposal by General Chou En-lai that the discussion proceed with the consideration item by item of this document prepared by Colonel Hill. As I understand the matter at the present moment, General Yu has not directly proposed that there be a different procedure. He has stated that he wishes to read a Government draft. As I understand it, he is not proposing that the Government draft be debated paragraph by paragraph. Is that correct, General Yu?

General Yu: Yes.

General Marshall: Does General Chou object to General Yu reading his draft, it being understood that he is not proposing that that will be debated paragraph by paragraph?

General Chou: I would like to mention this. In the first place, up till today, I am only aware of the draft prepared by Colonel Hill for our discussion on the basis of views exchanged between the Chinese parties. In the second place, if General Yu merely wishes to express the Government’s view, of course he has the right to do so. However, his draft would certainly not be the basis of our discussion.

General Marshall: It is understood that this draft to be read by General Yu is a part of his general statement in regard to the matter. Is that correct? And that the discussion will be based item by item on the draft prepared by Colonel Hill. Is that correct?

General Yu: Yes. As I read it, General Chou will be surprised how little it differs from Colonel Hill’s draft. This draft was prepared by me before General Chou came back from Yenan to Nanking, but it has been revised many times as a result of my discussions with General Chou and Colonel Hill. This is the last revision which was made yesterday.

“While restoration of railway lines will be carried out wherever possible, the Government proposes to restore the following lines in the order of priority indicated.

a. Tientsin–Pukou line including the entire line from Tsinan to the Yangtze River and including the Tsinan–Tsingtao and Hsuchow–Haichow sector of the line.

b. Peiping–Suiyuan line.

c. Peiping–Hsuchow line.

d. Other lines.

“The Government agrees to the removal and destruction of all mines, fortifications, blockhouses and military installations lying within 1,000 meters of either side of the railway line with the exception of those military installations located within 1,000 meters of bridges, tunnels, workhouses, railroad stations, water points, etc. The Government agrees that qualified railroad personnel of the CCP may be taken into the employ of the Ministry of Communications in the restored sectors of the lines which are under the CCP control. The qualifications of such personnel are to be determined by examinations conducted by the Communications teams.

“To implement the agreement for the restoration of communications without further delay all team members will aid construction by all means within their power. No team member will permit interference with the removal of those fortifications for any reason whatsoever.

(That is identical with the first paragraph of Col. Hill’s draft).

“Construction will start by the 23d of June at the following points under the supervision of the Communications teams and under control of the Ministry of Communications.” (I will not repeat the team numbers which are embodied in Colonel Hill’s draft)

(General Pee read the time schedule in Chinese)

General Yu: Colonel Hill, would you read from my draft?

Colonel Hill: “All mines, blockades, blockhouses, fortifications and other military communications lying within 1,000 meters of the railways listed above will be removed and destroyed simultaneously with construction, except those within 1,000 meters of vital railway installations such as bridges, tunnels, railroad stations, work shops, storage depots, radio stations, water points, etc.”

General Marshall: Has that been read in Chinese?

General Yu: Yes.

“In case of disagreement on the implementation of this directive, the majority vote of the three members shall be decisive. This directive will not in any way prejudice the effectiveness of general directive #4.”

I have purposely taken out communications police in anticipation of the objection of General Chou. I am willing to discuss it with General Chou. I have stated herein that all fortifications should be removed with the exception of certain railway station fortifications. General Chou wishes that changed to major stations and I am prepared to discuss that with him.

Concerning the employment of railway personnel, we have embodied a very explicit stipulation herein that the Government agrees that qualified railway personnel of the CCP may be taken into the employ of the Ministry of Communications in the restored sectors of the lines which are under the CCP control at the time of restoration. The qualifications of such persons are to be determined by examinations conducted by Communications teams.

General Chou will see that there are a few differences from Colonel Hill’s draft. One is the limitation of restoration of major stations. I am ready to discuss them with General Chou. With regard to the reference to the railway administration, I have made a very explicit stipulation in my draft.

I leave General Chou to make any suggestions as to the procedure of discussion. The Government proposal has been revised, mainly as a result of my discussion with Colonel Hill. One difference is that in this draft all fortifications protecting towns, and so on, will not be destroyed. Colonel Hill has suggested that we make a compromise. I am willing to discuss matters with General Chou. The other difference is with taking Communist personnel into the railroad. On this I have made a definite stipulation in my draft.

General Chou: After hearing General Yu’s statement with regard to the Government’s proposal, I am confused. I suggest that we take Colonel Hill’s draft as a basis of our discussion and go over it item by item. I suggest that for two reasons. First, as the Government representative has said, there is not much difference between the Government’s draft and Colonel Hill’s draft. In that case Colonel Hill’s draft would certainly be easier for a basis. We can then make the necessary amendments.

Secondly, on my part, I wish to point out that I was prepared to discuss Colonel Hill’s draft. The Government has shown me no other draft earlier and so I am prepared to discuss only Colonel Hill’s draft.

General Yu: Since the final draft has got to be rewritten, I propose that we go into that discussion of fortifications, the employment of personnel and whatever else General Chou will agree to discuss, but I desire to use my final draft as it will have to be rewritten.

General Chou: I cannot agree to such an arrangement. I feel very much surprised by General Yu’s attitude that his draft should be used as a basis for discussion. I have no objection to taking Colonel Hill’s draft as I was prepared for it, and both sides have had this draft. If the Government differed with this draft, they should have expressed their revisions prior to June 22nd, which was to have been the end of the 15-day truce. Both General Huang and the Government exchanged views with Colonel Hill. Since Colonel Hill has conveyed only this paper and the Government has not, prior to this, given me any other, Colonel Hill’s draft should be used as a basis. Since the Government agrees that Colonel Hill’s draft is similar to the Government’s, I am very much confused as to what the point of issue is now.

General Yu: I explained to General Chou that I have prepared a draft which has been revised many times. I cannot see why General Chou objects to discussing it as it is not the final draft. It still has to be discussed and agreed.

General Marshall: The procedure in all of our past conferences of the Committee of Three after a general discussion has been to have a document to debate or discuss sentence by sentence and paragraph by paragraph. Now we find ourselves this morning with a document that is not acceptable to the Government as a basis for debate and also a second document which the Government wrote. I did not previously have the details of the Government’s document to which General Yu Ta-wei refers.

Under the circumstances, the only thing that I can see is that we adjourn the conference until the Government submits the document and gives us an opportunity to look it over. Then we can have a discussion. For myself, I find a discussion without a definite paper is endless and usually arrives nowhere. Now the time is very short and I do not think we are gaining any time by prolonging the conference. I have not seen the document that General Yu refers to, apparently General Chou has not seen the document. Therefore, my proposal at this moment is that we adjourn further discussion.

General Yu: General Chou has not concurred with my draft but wishes Colonel Hill’s as a basis. In order to show we are not intending to have disagreement or not getting things done, I accept Colonel Hill’s draft as a basis for discussion.

General Marshall: Thank you very much. If agreeable, we will proceed with the discussion of this draft paragraph by paragraph. We will ignore the title for the time being unless there is some objection. General Yu Ta-wei, will you make your comments on paragraph 1, please.

General Yu: (Reading paragraph aloud) “All lines of communications in North and Central China will be open without delay for free and unrestricted interchange of goods, foodstuffs, and ideas, and for free and unrestricted civilian travel.”

No comment.

General Marshall: Do I understand that that paragraph as is is acceptable?

General Yu: Yes.

General Chou: I do not understand the statement “and ideas”.

Colonel Hill: That refers to telegraph, telephone, radio and postal service.

General Chou: I have no objection.

General Marshall: Paragraph 1 is accepted. (Quoting paragraph 2) “Reconstruction of railways will proceed immediately and will progress as rapidly as is consistent with the time limitations necessarily imposed by labor and materiel requirements. Time estimates for construction of the railroad lines is covered in appendix A.”

General Yu: No comment.

General Marshall: Is that acceptable?

General Chou: Yes.

General Marshall: Paragraph 2 is accepted.

The meeting was adjourned for a few minutes.

General Marshall: The meeting will please come to order. We are about to discuss paragraph 3. “All local commanders and all team members shall expedite construction by all means within their power. No commander nor team member will permit interference with the construction work for any reason whatsoever.”

Colonel Hill: May I interject that that paragraph has been amended as follows: “No commander nor team member will permit interference with the construction work or with the work of removal or destruction of fortifications for any reason whatsoever.”

General Yu: No comment.

General Chou: It is acceptable.

General Marshall: Paragraph 3 is accepted. Paragraph 4 is as follows: “Construction will start before 23 June 1946 at each of the following points, under supervision of Communications teams and under control of the Ministry of Communications.” Before reading those points I would like your suggestions as to the date.

General Yu: The date must be changed to “before 30 June”.

General Marshall: Agreed. With “before 30 June” is the paragraph acceptable?

General Yu: Yes.

General Marshall: The points mentioned are:

• “Team No. 18—Tientsin–Pukow RR from Tsang Hsien to Te Hsien.
• Team No. 23—Tientsin–Pukow RR from Yucheng to Te Hsien.
• Team No. 23 or 16—Tientsin–Pukow RR from Taian to Yenchow.
• Team No. 24—Tientsin–Pukow RR from Hanchuan to Yenchow.
• Team No. 21—Tsinan–Tsingtao RR from Kaomi to Fengtze.
• Team No. 23 or 7—Tsinan–Tsingtao RR from Chengtien to Fengtze.
• Team No. 24 or 4—Lunghai RR from Hsuchow to Haichow.

Construction on other RR lines will be commenced at the earliest practicable date in conformance with the principles herein contained.”

General Yu: No comments.

General Chou: Acceptable.

General Marshall: All of paragraph 4 is accepted.

General Yu: Except that the date 30 June is to be inserted.

General Marshall: Paragraph 5 reads: “All mines, fortifications, blockades, blockhouses, and other military works lying within 1000 meters on either side of the railroads listed above will be removed or destroyed simultaneously with construction, except those military works constructed for defense of and lying within 1000 meters of vital railroad installations such as 1st, 2nd, or 3rd class railroad stations, tunnels, or bridges of total span of more than 5 meters. This work of removal or destruction will proceed in the direction of construction within each of the 7 construction areas above listed, at such rate that the removal or demolition will, at all times, be completed for a distance of not less than 1000 meters in advance of completed construction of the railroad. At the same time, other military works along the operating portions of the above mentioned lines will be removed or destroyed at a constant rate such that the removal or destruction will have been completed on or before the date of completion of the railroad within the area of control of each of the above listed 7 teams. When work of restoration of the other railroad lines in North and Central China is commenced, this same principle shall apply. However, the Lunghai RR west of Chenghsien and the Peiping–Hankow RR south of Chenghsien are specifically exempted from the program for removal or destruction of military works.”

General Yu: I want that word “Chenghsien” in the last sentence where it reads: “However, the Lunghai RR west of Chenghsien” changed to Hsu Chou.

General Marshall: What is the distance involved?

A map was produced by the Nationalists showing the area involved. General Yu began showing General Marshall the line under discussion between Chenghsien and Hsu Chou. In a general discussion, General Yu stated it was General Chou’s desire to have the word “Chenghsien” and it was his, General Yu’s desire, to have the word “Hsu Chou”. General Marshall stated his agreement to the amendment.

General Chou: In connection with General Yu’s remark with reference to the destruction of fortifications along the section from Hsuchow to Cheng Hsien, I have the following statement to make. According to the original agreement, fortifications along the railway lines should be destroyed but in order to meet the stand of the Government, I have taken the following three measures to attack this problem.

1. Regarding areas where on both sides of the railway there are only Government areas, I make the concession that no fortifications will be destroyed so as to save work.

2. In Communist areas since the Communists have never erected any fortifications, no destruction is involved. The only problem is the erection of new fortifications. This does not constitute any compromise on the part of the Government.

3. Areas where the railway line is controlled by the Government on one side and the Communists on the other. Under such circumstances, both parties should make concessions that while the Government should take action to destroy the fortifications, the Communists may also give ground to limit the number of fortifications to be destroyed so as to reach a compromise. That is why I suggest that the section between Cheng Hsien and Hsuchow should also have fortifications removed. I understand the difficulty that General Yu now has, which is not the concern of the Ministry of Communications so much as the concern of the Ministry of Defense who right now has heavy military movements along that section. For military purposes, those fortifications are required. However, if hostilities could be effectively stopped and railway traffic started there would be no trouble over restored lines and there would be no necessity to maintain those fortifications.

However, in order to meet General Yu’s contention, I am willing to make the following concessions. First, that fortifications in that section between Hsuchow and Cheng Hsien can be destroyed at a later time, it should be so stated in our agreement. We reach the understanding that that would remain for a later time. Later on when hostilities have been completely stopped, there will be no use to have the fortifications. I make this proposal with a view to helping General Yu out of his difficult position.

Commenting on the same paragraph, I have two suggestions to make for amendments. The first one is regarding the railroad stations. In the paper, it states the 1st, second and third class railroad stations—the word third should be deleted because there are so many such railroad stations.

Second, on bridges where total span is more than 5 meters. 5 meters is too small—there are too many bridges of 5-meter span. Therefore the figure should be amended to 20 meters. If we have fortifications in the neighborhood of so many bridges and railroad stations, the result would be that no fortifications would be destroyed. The purpose of fortifications is to guard against bandits. That would not be of much help in case hostilities do take place. Therefore, two amendments are needed. The fortifications are numerous enough to prevent any banditry.

General Marshall: Colonel Hill, will you comment on the third class station and the extension of 5 to 20 meters? Is there a frequency of their occurrence along the lines.

Colonel Hill: There are four classes of railroad stations. The 1st and 2nd class are a very small number, the third class stations are average village stations and the most numerous of any, the fourth class are the flag stops. Therefore, the question of whether third class railroad stations should be included in here is quite important.

General Marshall: On a third class station, will you give me an example?

Colonel Hill: They are classed according to revenue. The third class station is where they take tickets and a small amount of revenue is produced.

With regard to the span of the bridges, the figure 5 meters is not arbitrary. That figure was chosen because that is approximately the maximum span that could be repaired by timber girders. Anything longer than about 5 meters would require steel girders which are very difficult to obtain.

General Marshall: Suppose this particular matter was amended so that the 1,000 meters applied to the first and second class stations, tunnels or bridges of a total span of 5 meters and say 200 meters for third class stations. Would that improve the situation materially from General Chou’s point of view.

General Chou: I am asking Vice Minister Lin⁶⁸ how many third class stations there are along the Tientsin–Pukou railway and whether there are still any fourth class stations.

Mr. Lin: I can’t give the exact number of third class stations, but roughly about three-fourths are third class. There are a few fourth class stations.

General Chou: What is the average distance between the stations of all kinds?

Mr. Lin: It averages about 10 kilos. The distance is 1100 kilos and the stations total 90, so the average is about 12.

General Chou: How many bridges are there on the Tientsin–Pukou line with a span of more than 5 meters? If culverts are included as bridges there would be one bridge every 2 kilos and new fortifications might be built at each such culvert.

General Marshall: The culvert is not the issue. The 5 meters is the issue. We can forbid the construction of fortifications. Is that it?

General Yu: General Marshall, would you read once more the exact wording.

General Marshall: “Commanders will remove or destroy all mines, blockhouses, blockades, fortifications or other military works on and along the lines of communications, which interfere with the operation of such lines.”

General Yu: Those do not interfere with the operation of the line.

General Marshall: I do not think he maintains that they do.

General Yu: They don’t interfere with the operation of the lines. They are blockades against bandits which is to General Chou’s interest and to our interest.

General Chou: I wish merely to point out in case we reach an agreement, this practically means no destruction of fortifications at all and it would seem like new construction would be needed which would look very funny to the outsider. General Marshall’s proposal for stipulating 200 meters for the third class stations is acceptable to me.

General Marshall: 1,000 meters for everything but third class stations and the third class 200 meters. Bridges of a total span—

General Chou: I have not yet come to the bridges.

General Marshall: I know. Bridges of a total span of more than 5 meters. I think that is a solid statement. I am proposing a moderation of one but not of the other because I think Colonel Hill’s recommendation which he stated was not arbitrary, but was related to an actual engineering factor which is sound. I think that also removes the probability of such great frequency of bridges that it amounts to preserving fortifications. That would not seem to be the case if the 5-meter span was a factor.

General Chou: I said with regard to the bridges we should lengthen the span in our stipulation or state that the culverts will be understood not to be included in bridges. Under the present stipulation, would the Ministry of Communications erect any fortifications?

General Yu: Not unless we are attacked by bandits. We are not interested in building fortifications just for nothing.

General Chou: Would the other proposal of General Marshall that no new fortifications be erected, be acceptable to the Government.

General Yu: I have no particular objection to that statement but I hope that General Chou or the Communist Party will understand our general intention of putting up new blockhouses on the railways is necessary if we come across bandits to destroy the bridges. We have to take some self-defense measures and put up blockhouses. If that can be understood, I have no particular objection to General Chou’s proposal. Furthermore, I am not interested in building fortifications. It takes money and work. However, in an emergency I don’t want to put ourselves in a position of having our hands tied.

General Chou: I suggest that it be stated herein that no new fortification will be erected except with the mutual understanding that in case of urgency or necessity, the field team will be asked to to deal with the actual situation.

General Yu: As approved by the field team or the railroad control team. If there are bandits, they want to protect their lives.

General Marshall: Would this wording be inserted at the close of the paragraph. “No new fortification will be erected except to meet attacks against the railroad itself and after approval by the Communications team.”

General Yu: That is acceptable.

General Marshall: General Chou?

General Chou: Yes.

General Marshall: I would like to read a suggested amendment to the first sentence which would be inserted after a comma at the present end of the first sentence, “and within 200 meters of the third class station”. That would be a strip of 400 meters of fortifications.

General Yu: I think it is better to leave it at 1,000 meters.

General Marshall: I was trying to reduce the frequency of places for which fortifications would be authorized and it was only for that reason that I cut the distance on the third class stations. I assumed that some defense was necessary but I reduced it to the minimum. I assumed there would be many more third class stations than there would be bridges of 5 meters span. Therefore I endeavored to reduce the allowances in which fortifications are authorized. My proposal was not based on the logic or finesse of defense but rather as a mere compromise to the fear on the part of General Chou that the frequency of these stations or bridges or tunnels would be so great that almost no fortifications would be destroyed. Some of our bridgeheads abroad were 20 miles deep and 40 miles wide in order to protect the bridge. General Chou?

General Chou: Yes. All right.

General Yu: Yes.

General Marshall: That takes us down to the last sentence where the discussion was regarding the Lunghai railroad. Are there comments?

General Chou: General Chou concedes that destruction along this section can be undertaken when traffic is resumed. In the other part, destruction will take place simultaneously with repair work. In this particular section, it may follow the repair work at a time when the railroad is in operation along the entire Lunghai line. I suggest that the last sentence be maintained with a footnote as agreed upon by the two sides that the destruction will take place at a later time after the resumption of through traffic on the entire line.

General Yu: I will talk to General Hsu on this last sentence. It is almost 20 minutes to 2. I think we should adjourn for lunch.

General Marshall: There are a few more paragraphs and I would like to hear if there is going to be an argument first.

Paragraph 5 without clearing the last sentence.

I would like to read paragraph 6. “Before through traffic is permitted on the reopened sector of the railroads, qualified railroad personnel of the CCP may be taken into the employ of the M. O. C.⁶⁹ in accordance with a plan to be determined. Qualifications of such personnel will be determined by the examinations to be conducted by the Communications teams or by the Communications Group of Executive Headquarters.”

General Yu: What are General Chou’s comments?

General Chou: Regarding the first sentence, I want to first put a question to the experts of the MOC. What is understood by the word qualified railroad personnel? Does that include all the personnel or does it include only a part of the railway personnel?

General Yu: Colonel Hill, have you any definite idea as to the qualifications of the railroad personnel?

Colonel Hill: Yes, I think that the Government should agree that qualified personnel in any bracket should be accepted without regard to political affiliations.

General Yu: Administrative personnel as well.

General Marshall: All types of personnel.

I did not expect to settle the paragraph. I just wanted to get an idea of the proposals. Let us drop paragraph 6, that is to be considered later. Paragraph 7, are there any comments that you wish to make at this moment.

Colonel Hill: There is an agreed amendment to add the thought that this directive shall not supersede General Directive No. 4 or that can easily be added as a new paragraph 9.

General Marshall: Now skipping right on to paragraph 8. Did General Chou have any comment on that at this moment?

General Chou: My comment, as previously communicated, is that I want to have a separate document on that matter. If the Government objects to that paper, I would further discuss on what kind of an agency are we to depend for the interpretation of this paper.

General Marshall: General Chou is willing to have that included in the separate document which applies to all teams.

General Yu: I am ready to discuss that point.

General Marshall: When do you wish to meet again on this subject. How about 9:30 tomorrow morning. We will try to finish this and then get back to the cessation of hostilities.

General Yu: Agreed.

General Chou: Agreed.

General Marshall: Meeting is adjourned.

66. Executive Headquarters General Directive No. 4–A of February 12, not printed, but see agreement of February 9, pp. 422–425.
67. Not printed.
68. Ling Hung-hsun, Chinese Vice Minister of Communications.
69. Ministry of Communications.