Marshall Mission Files, Lot 54–D270
Minutes of Meeting Between General Marshall and Dr. Stuart at No. 5 Ning Hai Road, Nanking, October 8, 1946, 11:45 a.m.
| Also present: | Colonel Caughey |
Dr. Stuart handed General Marshall a copy (attached) of General Chou En Lai’s oral reply4 to General Marshall’s letter dated 6 October to Dr. Stuart5 (later forwarded to General Chou En-lai) concerning the arrangement for stopping National advances on Kalgan.
General Marshall asked Dr. Stuart what his reaction was to General Chou’s reply. Dr. Stuart stated that his reaction was unfavorable in that General Chou’s reply demands an overall cessation of hostilities, whereas his previous indications were that the Communist Party would be willing to negotiate providing the Kalgan advances were stopped.
General Marshall stated that this reply places him in a position entirely opposite from the one held previously in opposing continued aggressive military action. Now the Government has offered at least a temporary cessation and the Communists decline.
General Marshall asked Dr. Stuart what his reaction would be to calling Dr. Wang Ping Nan and Tung Pi-wu to the house this afternoon at 4 o’clock for a meeting. Dr. Stuart replied that he thought this would be a good idea since he found himself in a position of being unable to understand the present Communist attitude. A meeting would give him an opportunity to determine if their attitude in effect was any different than that represented by General Chou’s reply. Dr. Stuart then stated that he felt the first thing that should be done is to publish an objective statement, not placing on either side any responsibilities or accusations.
General Marshall then dictated a press release and asked Dr. Stuart to get together with Mr. Connors to review the statement prior to its publication but to release it as soon as possible,6 giving American correspondents first consideration.
General Marshall concluded by stating that General Chou En-lai’s [Page 312] reply appears to make further negotiations impossible and that the Government now will find justification for continuing the advances on Kalgan. He said that at the 4 o’clock meeting this afternoon he would try to ascertain the true attitude of the Communist representatives and endeavor to determine what course of action we should next pursue.