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

Marshall Mission Files, Lot 54–D270

Minutes of Meeting of the Military Sub-Committee of Three, Held at the Office of the Aide to Generalissimo Chiang, February 21, 1946, 4 p.m.

February 21, 1946, 4 p.m.

Present:	General Chang Chih Chung
	General Chou En-lai
	General G. C. Marshall
Also present:	General Lee
	General Tong [Tung]
	General Kuo13
	Colonel Caughey
	Colonel Pee
	Mr. Chang

G—General Chang

C—General Chou

M—General Marshall

M: Shall we commence with the discussion of Article 5 and I will ask General Chou if he has any report to make regarding the last proposal which I submitted?

C: Referring to Section 1, Article 5,¹⁴ the idea of integration of the two armies and the group army is acceptable, but the integration should be effected one each in the 7th month, one in the 8th and one in the 9th. There might arise some difficulty due to the training of the officers to handle altogether. I am afraid that if the integration should proceed one after another every month there would be some difficulty for their training and therefore I propose that the integration should be effected every two months for each group army; that is, one during the 7th, the second in the 9th month and the third in the 11th month.

M: General Chang?

G: General Chou’s proposal makes a difference of two months and General Chang has said many times before that he will respect your opinion and if General Chou so desires he will respect your opinion regarding that.

M: Since our conversation this morning, General Chou, I have talked to General Caraway regarding this particular point which you mentioned. He tells me that they have their plans now drawn so he thinks the matter can be conveniently handled according to the schedule we have here. However, I would suggest that to make it reasonably safe that we have it read the 7th month, the 9th month and the 10th month. One additional month there would make it a little simpler, but the way they now have their schedule drawn there is no occasion for the further extension and I think it is desirable to have completed the integration of the third group an appreciable period of time before we start on the reorganization in the next six months.

G: General Chang is inclined to think that since the integration will not start until the end of six months time to prepare for the integration, he thinks the 7th, 8th and 9th will give plenty of time.

M: It isn’t the period at the end, it is our lack of officers—U. S. officers to attend to the schooling of the officers and it is all right to manage the first one. When you come to the next month you are dealing with a three-month course in a one-month interval. If we could have enough U. S. officers we could do them all in the 7th month, but we don’t have the people. I believe it is not objectionable and makes it a little easier to do to skip the 8th month. Is that agreeable?

G & C: Yes.

M: Section 2.

C: There is one question which General Chou likes to be clarified on; whether North China includes Northwest China?

M: What is Northwest China?

C: Such as Shansi, Kansu, Sinkiang, because it seems not to be the proper place for those provinces.

M: I think the intention in this was that West China came under Central China. The boundary between North and Central China was a straight line from Shantung province to Lanchow.

C: The Chinese conventional understanding is not the same.

M: What is your understanding?

C: Conventionally we separate by province.

M: I have sent Colonel Caughey over for the map on which they made this calculation. It is a rough approximation anyway. My recollection is that is from some point south of Shantung province then a line gradually northwest. They didn’t attempt to go into Western China because that was beyond us to calculate—where the divisions should be. We knew too little about the situation. We knew pretty definitely what was required in Manchuria and we had a pretty fair idea about that concentrated portion of North China and we had a pretty fair idea of South China—Central China got the remainder. Aside from this accurate definition of the meaning of North China, have you any comments to make, General Chou?

C: General Chou says it will be better if we mark the line of demarcation there along the boundaries of the provinces—that would give them much better definition.

M: I think so, too.

C: Referring to the disposition of Communist troops in Manchuria, General Chou says that according to your original proposal there was some Communist troops in Manchuria in the first stage. In the new plan there is no Communist forces in Manchuria at the end of the first 12 months there and he suggests that one Communist Army should be included in addition to the 5 armies of the Nationalist forces. This will be deducted of one army either from North China or Central China. In section 4 you mentioned that in Manchuria there will be one Communist division and General Chou thinks that is acceptable. Now by saying all this he only wished to explain that the Communists do not desire a large force to be stationed in Manchuria but since there are now some Communist forces there and they must also be demobilized and reorganized, it is desirable that one Army of the Communist forces should be in the first stage and one Division in the second stage.

M: What is your comment, General Chang?

G: General Chang agrees to that proposal put forward by General Chou.

M: I would suggest that when we come to the defining of North China we put the provinces in the minutes. How do you want to do it?

G: Both General Chang and General Chou are of the opinion that we should have five areas: Northeast China, North China, Northwest China, Central China and South China.

M: We have got to put Northwest in. Northeast is Manchuria, all we do is change the name. Have you the areas fixed now?

G: Yes, tentatively.

M: Please don’t omit Chihfeng.

G: General Chang asked whether he is correct in stating that after studying the provinces which will come under the different areas, then those will be put into the minutes and not to be included in the plan.

M: My thought was to avoid this being too lengthy, we would include a special paragraph in the minutes with the provinces in each area.

C: General Chou thinks that there certainly has to be Communist forces in Central China, but where the boundary line should be, it doesn’t matter very much.

M: I mentioned Northwest China but what General Chou would be primarily interested in here would be the definition of North China and of Northwest China, and of course that gives you the boundary of Central China. We can put them all in if you want to but I was trying to get it as brief as possible.

C: General Chou suggests that the definition of the five areas be put in the minutes; what constitutes North China, Central China, South China, Northwest China and Northeast China.

M: Did you decide on the boundary of North China?

G: General Chang will study on the definition of the different zones.

M: They will do that today?

G: Yes, right now. Manchuria is the nine provinces.

M: That is the Northeast.

G: North China will comprise Jehol, Chahar, Suiyuan, Shansi, Hopeh, Shantung. Northwest China will be Shensi, Kansu, Tsinghai, Ningsia, Sinkiang. South China will be Fukien, Kwangtung, Taiwan, Kwangsi, Yunnan, Kweichow. Central China all other provinces.

M: Is that all right?

G & C: Yes.

M: I have Northeast China 5 armies. (At this point General Marshall and Colonel Caughey recalculated the armies to conform to change of boundaries). Here is the way we have it:

Northeast China	5	armies	3 National divisions each
	1	army	3 Communist divisions,	total 6;
Northwest China	4		National Army,
	1		Communist Army,	total 5;
Central China	7		National Armies
	1		Communist Army,	total 8;
North China	4		National Armies
	3		Army groups, 1 Communist & 1 National division,	total 10:
South China	6		National Armies
Japan	1		National Army,	total 36

I took one National Army from North China and moved it into Manchuria. I took one Communist Army from Central China and moved it into Northwest China, that leaves the Communist deployment as one army in Northeast China; three armies in North China, one Army in Northwest China and one army in Central China, this is at the end of twelve months.

G: General Chang thinks that the Northwest area is too big and he thinks it is better to put Shensi in Central China instead of Northwest China. After the constitution has passed we shall introduce a new declaration, a new demarcation of the province and that province, very likely, is to be split in two provinces. Then the northern province can be included in North China and the southern province in Central China.

M: This would now change the boundaries. Is that all right.

C: Yes.

G: In that case the Communist army to be integrated in Northwest China can be moved to North China.

M: Is that change of province acceptable to General Chou?

C: Yes.

M: Then that will make this change in the deployment I gave you.

Northwest China	4 armies all National
North China	As I read it with 1 Communist army added which is the way I originally had it written there.

Now this is the way the matter now stands:

Northeast China	5 armies, National and 1 Communist
Northwest China	4 National armies
North China	4 National armies, 1 Communist Army, 3 army groups (half and half)
Central China	7 National armies, 1 Communist Army
South China	6 National armies
Japan	1 National army

Is that acceptable?

G & C: Yes.

M: It is understood that the decision regarding Japan has not as yet been taken by the Generalissimo.

G: General Chang said we would not have to worry[,] that would not have a very serious effect whether we will send the army to Japan or not.

M: My statement is that it is understood that a decision had not been made regarding the sending of the army to Japan.

G: Both General Chang and General Chou agree to scratch that out and incorporate it into the six National Army in South China. If we will decide to send the Army to Japan then we can send it from South China.

M: All right. South China will be seven armies.

G: As a matter of fact the embarkation point will be Shanghai, so the army should be in Central China.

M: Let us change the Central China, that will be eight National armies in Central China and six National armies in South China. Returning to Section 2, Article 5, I have left blanks down here as to group commanders. General Chou proposed to me this morning that as the Communists have very few places for their previous group and higher commanders, he would appreciate if of these three groups two group commanders should be Communists and that all groups should have a vice commander of the opposite side. Is that correct, General Chou?

C: Yes.

G: General Chang said that as he understood the three army groups would be formed previously and he thinks it is very difficult for either the Communist or the Government side to explain if we agree to have Communist officials or to put the army group commander. It will be very difficult for General Chou to convince the Communist side so he proposes that in Northern China there will be four National armies and one Communist army apart from the three army groups. He proposes to form another army group—form a fourth army group so that they will be square.

C: General Chou just explained to General Chang that General Marshall had in mind that those nine Communist divisions to be incorporated into the Army groups and form the basis for the 10 divisions which are going to be incorporated into the armies in the second stage and therefore it is not necessary to form a fourth group army because it would be difficult to train the officers of the extra army and therefore he thinks that since the third group army would only exist for approximately three months, he thinks that the government might make the decision of dispensing with the 4th group.

G: General Chang said that he himself doesn’t want to insist on what he just said but stated it is very difficult for him to explain this to the government, so he proposes the following; the first army group to be set up will be commanded by the Nationalists, the second by the Communists and then regarding the commander of the third, then we will leave to future discussion with that understanding.

M: What do you mean by that understanding?

G: General Chang has to [two?] points of view. First he still hopes that the first proposal he made, that is to organize a fourth army group[,] will be adopted and that if that is not adopted he thinks it is better to put in the paper that the first army group commander will be held by a National, the second by a Communist and the third commander will be decided in the future.

M: I am afraid that that exception regarding the third will produce an unfortunate result publicly. It will not complicate matters a great deal if we say in the second sentence of Section 1 at the end of the sentence, another the 10th month and another the 11th month, because by that time it will be more or less a form rather than a fact. We would say in the first sentence “4 army groups” and in the end of the sentence, that is the second sentence, “and another the 11th month”, scratching out the word “and” preceding the 10th month. So the first sentence says 4 army groups, the other carries the integration up to the 11th month and in Section 3 we would speak of 4 army groups referred to shall be reorganized and at the end of the sentence the expression is used, “an additional Communist division being furnished for this purpose”. That would be strick[en] out because there would be one extra Communist division. Now making that change I propose as a compromise that the first group have a Communist commander, the second a National commander, the third, a Communist and the fourth a National commander. In other words, we have added a fourth group for General Chang and reversed the order of appointment for General Chou. I probably do not please anybody. Is that acceptable? I did not intend to put in this who would be first and second, that would be a detail.

G: General Chou and General Chang together compromise[,] that is, the Communist officer would be first appointed in the 7th month followed with a National official to be assigned on the 9th month and the 10th month and the 4th army group will be held by a Communist officer.

C: General Chou says that this may be acceptable provided that the appointments are made all at the same time.

M: You don’t get the groups all at the same time. The baby isn’t born. Somebody accused me of being a midwife the other day, but this is getting to be a little stiff. It is understood that none of this is published. That is in the detailed plan. It will not be released to the press.

G: It is understood that the deputy commander of the army group will be held by the officer from the other party.

M: Yes. North China will now ready three armies, each consisting of three National divisions. Four army groups consisting of 1 National and 1 Communist army of three divisions. Two army group commanders shall be Communist and 2 Army group commanders shall be National commanders. In section 3 there will read, “During the following 6 months the 4 Army Groups,” and at the end of the sentence “an additional Communist division being added for the purpose” will be struck out. Can I ask General Chou his comment on the deployment in Section 4. Five armies each consisting of three national divisions.

G: Northwest region has to be rearranged in this section.

M: Are we ready to start? In section 4 the word “Manchuria” should be changed to Northeast China and the proposal under that would remain the same.

(General Chang left meeting for short phone call).

I will read to General Chou this next. Northwest China, two armies each consisting of three National divisions, North China, three armies each consisting of 1 National and 2 Communist divisions, each with a Communist commander and (insert this) 1 Army consisting of 2 National and 1 Communist division with a National commander, and 2 armies each consisting of 3 National divisions, total 6 armies.

(General Marshall then read it to General Chang who returned to the meeting.)

Then Central China, 1 army consisting of 1 National and 2 Communist divisions with a Communist commander and (here is the change) 3 armies consisting of 3 National divisions with a National commander—total 4 armies.

South China—3 armies of 3 National divisions each. That is all.

Lee: The last sentence “stationed in Japan” shall be struck out?

M: Yes.

G: General Chang has this in mind. When talking of section 2, 4 armies were allotted to the Northwest region which comprises four big provinces. The territory is too extensive. He intended to raise the point to increase from four armies to five armies then he did not in order not to make any detailed discussion, but now comes to section 4, only 2 armies allotted to the Northwest. He thinks the area is too extensive and besides that there are other complications so he hopes that in both section 2 and section 4 there can be made some increase of one army that is in section 4 make it three armies. In section two change the number of troops from 9 to 8.

M: You want to make it 8 now?

G: Move that National Army into the Northwest.

M: Make it to the Northwest—that will be 5. Does that come out all right.

C: Yes.

M: Then over in section 4, that will be three armies in the Northwest. Take that army from where?

G: Central China.

M: Central China, or do you want to take it from South China, because the army for Japan must go from Central China. South China? Is that all right, South China?

G: General Chang agrees to move it from South China.

M: That would leave two, would it not?

G: Yes.

M: Northeast, 5 armies; Northwest, 3 armies; North China, 6 armies; Central, 4 armies and South China, 2 armies. Is that acceptable, General Chang and General Chou?

G & C: Yes.

M: Then that Article 5 as multilated is accepted. Then I will ask you to return to Article 8. We left the first part of Section 2 in an incompleted sentence. The last clause should read, “and that the detailed procedure of the integration of the armies.” That is somewhat of a repetition, but the preceding part of that paragraph sums up two other factors and I thought it best to put them all three together. When we finished with Section 8 the other day it was agreed that we would not complete the sentence of the first paragraph of Section 2 until we settled on the deployment. Now we have gotten that straighened out so I have just put in this final reference to the procedure of integration. It doesn’t change anything in the paper. Is that acceptable in that form?

G & C: Yes.

M: I will ask you to turn to Article 1. Since we have introduce[d] army groups the second sentence should now read, the third sentence, “The commander of each of the separate armies, the commanders of the army groups, and the director of each of the several areas herein provided for.”

C: That is director of the several areas.

M: That is right.

“shall report to the Commander in Chief through the Ministry of National Defense,” should we put in there (or National Military Council)?

G: Yes.

M: Is that inclusion of commanders of army groups acceptable and the inclusion of the (or National Military Council).

G & C: Yes.

M: In Article 2, Section [2], first sentence. The word militia occurs, it should read “the Peace Preservation Corps” and in the last five words the expression “field forces” is used and it should read, the “army”, the word “army” for “field forces”. Is that acceptable?

G & C: Yes.

M: Are there any other proposals in connection with this?

G: Article 4, Section 4. That section was reserved from the last time.

C: General Chou is referring to Section 4 of Article 4. It should be brought up now.

G: There is some changes in the English version but the Chinese version has not been changed accordingly, they have continued on the translation now.

C: Suggest that the last sentence of Section 4 should read “these 60 divisions shall be the National Army of the Republic of China”.

G: General Chang made the proposal that we scratch out the last sentence, “these 60 divisions shall be known”, because it may give some interpretation that on the first stage of the 108 divisions is not known as the National Army of the Republic of China. So he proposes be further reduced to 50 National and 10 Communist divisions making a total of 60 divisions, to be organized into 20 armies.

M: What is your reaction to that, General Chou?

C: General Chou has no comments—that is agreeable to him.

M: Scratch out the last sentence “these 60 divisions shall be known…”¹⁵ and add to the first sentence this statement, “make a total of 60 divisions to be organized into 20 armies.” Now are there any other points to be discussed.

C: General Chou recalls the last proposal regarding the gendarmes and railroad police.

G: General Chang said that after reading General Chou’s proposal regarding gendarmes and railroad police, he thinks regarding the military police (gendarmes) it is a matter of terminology to call it railway guards or railway police so he doesn’t see any direct relationship between that and the plan presently before us. He asks General Chou to raise the original proposal on higher government level in the National Council, or the Executive Yuan—not to be discussed here. General Kuo has made an investigation of the matter and found that they are called railroad police and not called railroad guards. General Chang suggests to settle this affair between themselves and not to bother you, General Marshall.

(There was a long animated discussion in Chinese at this point not translated.)

General Chang says these details will be further discussed between General Chou and himself. General Chang is sure that he can reach a compromise with General Chou and not bother you. General Chang stated that he will introduce the matter up with the Executive Yuan for the Executive Yuan to discuss on this point and if the Executive Yuan appoints him as a representative then he himself will talk it over with General Chou. General Chang has the idea that General Chou is getting rather narrow-minded.

C: General Chou says that he is willing to accept General Chang’s proposal that he will be responsible to recommend to the Executive Yuan to conduct negotiation with General Chou provided that before the settlement of this problem the military police of the Ministry of Communications will not enter the Communist controlled territories.

G: General Chang said that he would try every means to get a compromise with General Chou on this problem.

(There was a long discussion in Chinese at this point not translated)

C: They both agreed that regarding the question of gendarmes and the railroad guards General Chang will responsibly refer it to the Executive Yuan to confer with General Chou and for the interim period the regulations covering the restoring of communications will hold.¹⁶

M: That is acceptable to both of you?

G: They reached a compromise.

M: What is it?

G: They reached a compromise, that is, General Chang will recommend General Chou to discuss the matters of gendarmes and railway guards to be discussed and settled in the discussion between General Chou and the Executive Yuan.

M: I don’t understand. General Chang recommends General Chou to discuss those matters.

G: General Chang is obliged to recommend. General Chang will be responsible for recommendation to the Executive Yuan to discuss the matter of railway guards and gendarmes with General Chou for a settlement.

C: General Chou will make another statement in the interim period before it is settled. General Chou recommends that for the interim period before the settlement is reached the restoration of communications should still hold.

M: He is merely comment[ing] on that. Nothing else. Gentlemen, are there any other comments. I will have that carefully recorded in the minutes. Are there any further comments on this paper?

C: On going back to Yenan, the friends there have raised the question of the title of this whole plan because in the past there are two bases of reference for the present discussion. At the conference of three for the cessation of hostilities an agreement was reached to make a recommendation to the Generalissimo as well as to Chairman Mao Tse-tung that the conference recommend the speedy meeting of the Military Sub-Committee to work out a plan for the reorganization of the armies of China and this agreement was signed by all three representatives and sent to the Generalissimo and Chairman Mao Tse-tung. The Generalissimo has accepted this recommendation and has also requested General Marshall to be their adviser. On the other hand Chairman Mao Tse-tung has also accepted and welcomed General Marshall as adviser and therefore the present plan for the reorganization of the armies has a reference in that document. General Chang has also said that this is only a matter of formality for we have another reference. That is during the previous discussions between the government and the Communist Party it was stated that a Military Sub-Committee of Three will be called to discuss on the reorganization of the Communist forces into 20 divisions only and so there is some disparity about the subject of our meeting. Since the discussion we have now so far completed provides for the reorganization of Communist forces into 20 divisions, but also provides for the reorganization of some National forces, it therefore is actually a plan for the reorganization of the armies of China so he thinks that it, the title, is rather inconsistent with the conditions of our discussion. To meet the difficulty, General Chou proposes as a compromise formula that we would adopt the title, “Basis for the Nationalization of the Armies”.

M: General Chang, any comment?

G: If that title suggested by General Chou, “Basis for the Nationalization of the Armies” would be adopted, I am afraid many complications will be raised. With that title, that means we must work for some arrangement for the fusion of the two armies because in the previous meetings, General Chang did bring up that point repeatedly, that is, he hoped to see in the future no demarcation between the Communist and Nationalist forces. So if that title is used it is rather inconsistent with the paper because in the paper it mentioned nothing about the fusion of the armies in this country so this is actually an interim plan for the ultimate goal of nationalization. He did not insist on fusion being in this plan because he hopes that will be in the future, that this is but an interim plan. General Chang quite sees what General Chou has in mind regarding the title. General Chang feels that General Chou raised this point because it may not sound very well to the Communist side, reorganization of the Communist forces, it may imply loss of face and if that is the case General Chang thinks it really doesn’t matter so much because in the contents it is really a reorganization of the Communist troops so he doesn’t think it is necessary to change.

C: General Chou says it is not a matter of saving face because as it was discussed at the conference of three that the present committee will not only discuss about the reorganization of Communist forces but also of the Nationalist forces. The present plan does not cover all the military forces, navy, air forces, etc., it does cover every respect of the Army and it therefore is not only the Communist forces that will be reorganized but the National forces will do the same thing and the plan is intended that on the basis of the reorganization it may reach the goal of nationalization of the armies so he thinks that both parties are actually committed by this plan [by?] which the Executive Headquarters in Peiping will later on not only be in charge of reorganization of 18 Communist divisions, but it will also be responsible for the reorganization of the 90 or 50 Nationalist divisions, otherwise the reorganization of the two armies will not go at the same rate and therefore if we consider the contents of the plan we will see that the title is not consistent. I am making this proposal as I actually have in mind the concrete difficulties we will face if we do not change the title and that is the reason I made the proposal.

M: I would like to make this suggestion and have you consider this as a title, “Basis for the Demobilization of the armies of China and for their integration into a National force”. What are the comments on that proposal?

C: General Chou accepts.

G: General Chang says that there is no doubt that General Chou will accept but he has to face many difficulties.

C: General Chou asks General Chang to be broadminded.

G: The jurisdiction regarding the status of this Military Sub-Committee is based on the talks between the Government and the Communists and in the communiqué issued, that is in Article 9 of that document, stipulate that the Military Sub-Committee should be convened to draw the reorganization of the Communist forces and in the present meetings, although the reorganization is also incorporated in this plan, it is a big concession on the government side, so the conditions regarding it, General Chang can’t decide whether such an article can be decided [by] himself.

M: I suggest that we adjourn until sometime tomorrow and that I will have a clear copy made of this paper by Colonel Caughey without the title. That matter can be settled tomorrow. Is that agreeable?

G & C: Yes.

M: I want to give you a draft of the first part of a proposed press release¹⁷ to consider before we meet tomorrow. This is only an introduction. It is to be followed presumably by the document. I am wrong, according to General Chang, in stating the basis for the Military Sub-Committee. However, that is a detail and you can tell me tomorrow. I think it will be very important that there be an absolute agreement as to the type of agreement and the time of release by both General Chang and General Chou to be a joint agreement as to exactly what is to be said and when it is to be released. That is important here in China, but it is very important all over the world, so I ask you to look very carefully into that rough proposal of mine, because we will have to be very careful with what is said. You will have to have in mind that nobody thought this could be done. If they had heard us they would still think so. So if you will please look at that and then advise me tomorrow as to how it should be done. Shall we meet tomorrow.

G & C: Yes.

M: What time.

G: 4 o’clock.

M: I am very sorry that General Chang has to go through this meeting feeling badly. I hope very much that he will feel better tomorrow.

G: Thank you.

M: We are adjourned until tomorrow afternoon.

13. Perhaps General Kuo Chi-chiao, Deputy Chief of Staff.
14. Special drafts, undated but undoubtedly February 21, of this particular section and articles under discussion at this meeting, not printed.
15. Points appear in the original.
16. For correspondence on the restoration of communications, see pp. 341 ff.
17. Not printed.