893.00/10–747: Telegram
The Ambassador in China ( Stuart ) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 7—3:23 a.m.]
2035. Embassy reliably informed that recent Peiping arrests as reported in Peiping’s 296, October 3, to Department,1 were made possible by locating radio station which had been in communication with Communists. Approximately 30 persons were seized when they came to station site for subsidies, instructions, etc.
Most important arrests were:
- (1)
- Major General Hsieh Shih-ping, head of First Department headquarters of General Sun Lien-chung,2 and who was largely in control of military operations that headquarters. It is alleged that General Hsieh had been a Government member of Executive Headquarters and was there greatly influenced by his Communist associates, that in March of last year he became a probationary member of the Chinese Communist Party and expected to be admitted to full membership in March of 1948.
- (2)
- General Sun Lien-chung is reported to have been astounded by the news of General Hsieh’s arrest and insisted upon posting bond for him until he was confronted with a signed confession by General Hsieh [and?] Yu Shin-ching, chairman of the planning board of Sun Lien-chung’s headquarters with the titular rank of Lieutenant General. This man is a graduate of Columbia University and formerly a deputy of Feng Yu-hsiang3 and is reported not a member of the Communist Party but greatly dissatisfied with the National Government.
- (3)
- Tung Chien-ping, director of the Tientsin land bureau who was stated to have held an important position as a transmitting agent of instructions to Communist Party workers in Government areas.
Other arrests included teachers and an assistant manager of the Peiping branch of the Central Bank who handled Communist Party finances. Embassy informants also confirm the escape of General Wang Yeh-chiu and another individual stated to be in charge of the shipment of medical supplies to Communist areas. It is also stated that many documents were seized and as a result of preliminary examination of these, arrests have already been made in Mukden, Jehol, Kalgan and Shanghai.
In spite of General Sun Lien-chung’s professions of astonishment at implication of one of his senior officers, Embassy cannot but believe that he was not without knowledge of what was occurring within his headquarters. Generalissimo’s current visit to Peiping is undoubtedly in connection with this affair inasmuch as the arrest of the daughter of Chen Pu-lei (for many years trusted private secretary of Generalissimo and currently member of State Council) and her husband, would appear to be indicative of how deeply anti-Government if not pro-Communist feeling has penetrated into circles which could normally be expected to remain faithful to the Kuomintang.