893.00/6–1947: Telegram
The Ambassador in China (Stuart) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 19—4:50 a.m.]
1335. Han Li-wu, Vice Minister of Education, who was charged by the Government with attempting to reach some settlement of the Hankow incident that resulted in the death of 3 students of Wuhan University, told an Embassy officer in confidence that he has been attempting to persuade the Generalissimo of 3 points in connection with recent student disturbances:
- (1)
- That reports reaching the Generalissimo of Communist leadership and domination of the student movement are in the main inaccurate, though it is unquestionably true that some students are Communists and have been attempting to exploit the situation for their own ends; and, further that reports reaching the Gimo of police and military activities vis-à-vis disorders are also inaccurate since the military has been a great deal more brutal and oppressive than the reports would indicate;
- (2)
- That Government policy, as exemplified by the decrees forbidding mass demonstrations, results only in persuading students that the Government is their enemy rather than a sympathetic friend and consequently will fail;
- (3)
- That the military should under no circumstances be allowed to have any participation in the solution of the student problem because this will only further antagonize academic groups.
Dr. Han said he had so far been unsuccessful in his persuasion, except to the extent of having secured replacement of two generals in Hankow. He added that he is now working on a plan whereby the Government would agree that student offenders against proper law and order would be remanded to their parents or guardians who would be responsible for their behavior and activities and that in cases where this failed, students could be prosecuted through usual civil channels. The military would stay out of the picture. In return students would agree to abandon the use of strikes and of disorderly demonstrations and confine their activities to normal political channels and methods [Page 190] of expression. Dr. Han also said lie felt there was too much supervision and control over education in the ministry and that better results might be obtained if greater responsibilities were laid on the individual universities.
With reference to the outbreak of disturbances early in May, Dr. Han said that rivalry between Chu Chia-hua, Minister of Education, and Chen Li-fu, which found expression in a quarrel over the location of various universities in the province of Chekiang, was the spark that set off the disorders, but that the general social and economic situation existed, needing only something to give it a push, and that it almost immediately became something much larger than a quarrel between two factions.
Dr. Han also said that one of the great difficulties in finding the solution to the whole student problem is that the issues are still somewhat confused. He feels that if the Government will make a clear-cut, unequivocal and generous peace offer to the Communists, thereby clearly laying on them the onus for continuing the civil war, it would be much easier to solve the student problem as well as others. He stated that he personally favored this course and that there is a growing body of sentiment which thinks in the same terms. In summary, Dr. Han believes his program offers a possibility for solution of the student question, but that continuation of present Government policy will in time result only in an intensification of student activities and disorders.