Marshall Mission Files, Lot 54–D270
Notes on Meeting Between General Marshall and General C. P. Lee at No. 5 Ning Hai Road, Nanking, December 7, 1946, 11 a.m.
| Also present: | Captain Soong |
General Lee told General Marshall that he had called on Mr. Tung Pi-wu yesterday morning. He considered there are two possible approaches to the present situation. One is a meeting between General Marshall and Mr. Tung Pi-wu during which General Marshall would inform Mr. Tung that the message from General Chou En-lai had been transmitted to the Generalissimo. Then, a free discussion of the current situation could follow. The other is for the Generalissimo to retire from public life since he had already done enough for his country. This would definitely improve the overall atmosphere [Page 597] for negotiations and cause the Communist Party to change its attitude. General Lee also mentioned Governor Chang Chun,3 Mr. Mo Te-hui and Dr. Sun Fo as possible candidates for the Chief of State.
General Marshall said that notification to Mr. Tung of the transmittal of General Chou’s letter to the Generalissimo was unnecessary since both sides had released the letter to the press. General Marshall added, however, that the press might twist things since interpretation recently by the press of the 4,000-word extract of the General Chou minutes was incorrect; the extract of minutes merely contained General Chou’s reason for returning to Yenan. General Marshall then deplored current Communist propaganda which is only serving to crystallize American policy to total support of the Chinese National Government. This propaganda also tends to encourage the reactionary clique and the militarists in the Government, thus making them more and more difficult to handle.
General Lee suggested a counter-propaganda campaign. General Marshall saw no advantage in this course. The basic question was to determine the reasons behind the Communist propaganda. General Marshall then said his chief interest concerned whether the reactionaries were going to wreck the PCC constitution which is now before the National Assembly.
General Lee then said that yesterday he had seen Dr. Lo Lung-chi who expressed the opinion that General Marshall was generally accepted by the Chinese people as their savior when he first came to China. However, later, the Communists believed that General Marshall was partial to the Government and consequently lost faith in his mediation. Dr. Lo felt that if General Marshall had pressed the Kuomintang to agree to a coalition government, the situation today would not be so difficult.
General Lee then commented that the draft constitution now being discussed in the National Assembly is in accordance with the PCC resolutions and that it is a better one than that drafted by Mr. Carson Chang of the Democratic League. General Lee suggested that if the National Assembly would dispatch a delegation to Yenan, the Communists might be persuaded to resume negotiations.
General Marshall asked General Lee whether the Communists would still trust Dr. Stuart. General Lee stated that in the opinion of the Communists both General Marshall and Dr. Stuart were being sacrificed by the U. S. Government through its China policy. He believed that if General Marshall and Dr. Stuart were to press the Government to accept the Communist terms, meaning a coalition government, the Communists would be willing to reopen negotiations. General Lee then suggested that either a discussion should be held [Page 598] between General Marshall and Mr. Tung Pi-wu or General Marshall should make a trip to Yenan.
General Marshall said that he would wait the passage of the Constitution in the National Assembly. He feels that at present the American mediators are in no position to take any steps.
- Governor of Szechuan.↩