Marshall Mission Files, Lot 54–D270
Minutes of Meeting Between General Marshall and General Chou En-lai, at House 28, Chungking, February 21, 1946, 10 a.m.
| Also present: | Colonel Caughey |
| Captain H. Eng | |
| Mr. Chang |
General Chou En-lai opened the meeting by informing General Marshall that he had returned from Yenan yesterday afternoon and said that the program of integration in two stages as proposed by General Marshall had been accepted in principle by Chairman Mao of the Chinese Communist Party.
General Chou said that Chairman Mao hoped to have two Army Group commanders in 3 Army Groups. The request was made on the ground that such appointment would only be for the interim. General Chou also said that Chairman Mao had requested integrated staffs for the Army Groups.
General Chou reported Chairman Mao’s enthusiastic acceptance of General Marshall’s proposal for the establishment of transitional training school for Communist officers and men. Three month training [Page 264] as now envisaged by the plan would not be enough, General Chou added. He inquired if such training courses could be extended to 2 or 3 years, covering more intensive and extensive training. General Marshall outlined the scope of this basic training and said that the longer courses would be worked out under the Military Advisory Group.
General Chou said that the personnel to attend the training schools would be carefully selected and that the units chosen to fill the quota of 10 divisions to be integrated would be their best. General Chou added that the Communist Party would welcome training cadres assigned by the MAG to its divisions, when and if the MAG materialized.
General Chou said that the title, “Basis for the Nationalization of the Armies of China” would be preferable to the existing title of the paper.
General Chou, referring to Article I, Section 2, asked if the President would exercise his function of command through the National Military Council. General Marshall confirmed this interpretation.
General Chou said that he had talked with Chairman Mao concerning Manchuria and had come to the following conclusions:
- a.
- That he desired the Committee of Three to visit Manchuria,
- b.
- That the cease fire order was applicable to Manchuria,
- c.
- That the reorganization of the army would take in Manchuria, as General Marshall’s proposal had envisaged, though the stand of the National Government in this regard was not clear.12
General Chou reported that Central Government troops under the command of General Chang Fah-kuei at Canton had violated the terms of the cease fire order and that because of this he may be forced into the necessity of publicly revealing the facts. He then requested that General Marshall request the Executive Headquarters to issue instructions to the Field Team at Canton to continue efforts to contact Communist forces and to prevent further difficulty.
General Chou said that Chairman Mao had expressed the hope that General Marshall would go to the United States to report to the President after the situation in China,—constitutional reform, and the reorganization of the Army—became reasonably stabilized. General Marshall then informed General Chou that he would only be gone for about 4 or 5 weeks and that he would return to China as soon as he had completed urgent business regarding loans for China, shipping, etc.