Marshall Mission Files, Lot 54–D270
Minutes of Meeting Between General Marshall and General Yu Ta-wei at No. 5 Ning Hai Road, Nanking, July 11, 1946, 9 a.m.
| Also present: | Colonel Caughey |
General Yu Ta Wei displayed a map showing Communist dispositions and recent movements north of the Lunghai railroad, in Kiangsu province north of the Yangtze River near Nanking, in Honan province and in Shantung province. General Yu Ta Wei said, “the Communist[s] are attacking everywhere.”
General Marshall stated that the situation appeared critical, but that the answer to the immediate problem lies in obtaining results from the special conference of Government and Communist representatives, which is supposed to be solving the civil administration problem. General Marshall elaborated on this by stating that it might be profitable to approach the problem by establishing, say three, groups to serve in key areas of Kiangsu province; these groups [Page 1339] might consist of three members, a National representative, a Communist representative and an American civilian representative. They would in effect act as a Court of Appeal to rule on equitable distribution of property and to prevent violation of agreements reached for control of the civil administration. General Marshall added that some solution with reference to civil administration is immediately necessary in order to tie together the present military situation. General Yu Ta Wei stated that the Communist Party wants power, and if they get any additional power, such as civil administrative power, they will tend to wage greater civil war. To this General Marshall replied that, on that basis, the Government might as well go to complete civil war today. General Marshall lamented the fact that the conference between Nationalist and Communist representatives failed to come to any sort of a solution with respect to this problem. General Marshall then told General Yu Ta Wei that he had spoken to Dr. Lo Lung-chih of the Democratic League, who had told him (General Marshall) that the Communist Party was also unwilling to make concessions in this conference because it would prefer to have the PCC reconvened so that the PCC could resolve this matter. General Marshall added that failure to reach a solution, even if on a temporary basis, at this time would inevitably lead to civil war. General Marshall added also that on the Government side it appeared that the Generalissimo had consented to participation in a conference of this sort to please him (General Marshall) but at the same time had issued instructions to the Nationalist conferees to assume an unbending attitude in the conference.
General Yu Ta Wei asked General Marshall what the American team members from Hankow had said. General Marshall informed General Yu Ta Wei that the American team members said that both sides were at fault. On the one hand the Nationalist forces had been reinforced considerably around the Communist area and on the other hand the Communist[s], being surrounded and pressed, had filtered out large numbers of men, and had finally carried out their plans for a break through. General Marshall reminded General Yu Ta Wei of the intercepted order, a copy8 of which he had previously given to General Yu, which indicated that the National Government had conceived and apparently launched a very definite attack against the surrounded Communist forces. In this connection General Marshall said that the American team members confirmed the fact that such orders were believed to be in existence.
Returning to the conference between National and Communist representatives, General Yu stated that Dr. Wang had told General [Page 1340] Chou En-lai that he (Dr. Wang) would hold another conference to resolve the civil administration problem if General Chou so desired. General Yu also said that he had asked Dr. Wang why the matter could not be referred to PCC, to which Dr. Wang had replied that it could not because it would require a unanimous vote. (Implying that the National representatives would not agree.) General Marshall stated that Dr. Wang had also told him the same thing but that he (General Marshall) was of the opinion that some sort of a special ruling could be made to take care of the situation. Dr. Wang told General Marshall that he wanted to deal with the Communist[s] direct on this question.
General Yu told General Marshall that the Generalissimo had cancelled his trip to Shanghai for the purpose of staying in Nanking to hear General Marshall’s views on the solution of this problem. General Marshall stated that he had no specific views on the matter, other than already presented, but that he would be glad to discuss the entire question with the Generalissimo at the latter’s convenience.
General Yu stated that he would attempt to get for General Marshall an appointment with the Generalissimo the following day.