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The Ambassador in China (Stuart) to the Secretary of State

1780. Minister of Information at weekly press conference October 30 made following statements:

Query. What is present political situation and what is present military situation? Answer: Peace negotiations are continuing. Central Government is still hopeful that solution may be found very soon, because it does not see why the very reasonable and conciliatory eight-point statement of President Chiang could not be accepted.

Query. What did you mean by your statement last Wednesday that armed conflicts are coming to an end? Answer: I meant that armed conflicts had daily been becoming localized and that only minor clashes were in evidence.

Stuart