893.01/10–3147
The Consul General at Mukden (Ward) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 13.]
The Consul General has the honor to refer to the enclosed English translation36 of an extract from the October 26, 1947, issue of Ho Ping Jih Pao (Peace Daily), Mukden, the press organ of the President’s Northeast Headquarters, setting forth the regulations promulgated by the Chinese Government on October 21, 1947, governing the organization of the Political Affairs Commission of the President’s Northeast Headquarters.
While not so stated in the enclosure under reference, this Commission is replacing the Economic Commission (commonly called “Northeast Economic Commission”) and the Political Commission (commonly called “Northeast Political Commission”), both of which have been integral parts of the President’s Northeast Headquarters. The Economic Commission was headed until early in 1947 by Chiang Chia-ngau,37 and since that time by Kwan Chi-yu, the latter having departed from Mukden several days ago enroute to Nanking, where he will assume his new position of Vice Minister of Food Supply. [Page 355] Wang Shu-han has been Chairman of the Political Commission and is now Vice Chairman of the Political Affairs Commission. General Chen Cheng, Director of the President’s Northeast Headquarters, is concurrently Chairman of the Political Affairs Commission.
It will be noted that Article 2 of the enclosed Regulations provides that, in addition to a Chairman and a Vice Chairman, the Commission will be composed of 17 to 23 members, from among which latter 3 to 5 will be selected to serve as standing members. In so far as can be ascertained at this time, the members of the Commission have not been selected in toto (such selection being made nominally by the Executive Yuan, but actually by General Chen Cheng), but those members who will serve as the Standing Committee have been designated—Messrs. Kao Shih-ping, Wang Chia-ching, Feng Yung, Chu Huai-ping and Chow Tso-hua. Biographical notes on these five members of the Standing Committee appeared in the October 29 issue of Ho Ping Jih Pao (Peace Daily) and are appended hereto in English translation.
The establishment of the Political Affairs Commission has been awaited eagerly by the politically-minded people of the Northeast, it being their hope that this Commission would provide an effective instrument toward initiating a return of the administration of the Northeast to Northeasterners. The reaction of the Northeasterners thus far to the Commission has been spotty, many persons feeling that it is a constructive step, but the more politically acute feeling that while it can, if so permitted by the Central Government, develop [as] an effective intrument, its status is actually that of an advisory group which may go unheeded as do so many of the advisors and other advisory groups.
It may be that the Commission will not be able to act constructively, even in its advisory capacity, for the reason that it will “act under the orders of the President of the Executive Yuan and the instructions of the Director of the President’s Northeast Headquarters” (Article 2 of Regulations).
Pending an opportunity to observe the functioning of the Commission, it must be admitted that the Government has done well to establish such a body and to withhold from manning it (thus far at least) with Nanmantze (“Southern Chinese”, a colloquialism used in Manchuria to designate southerners and particularly those Government officials from the central and southern parts of China given to rapacious practices). Four of the members of the Standing Committee are Northeasterners and one is a Southerner, from Hupei Province. The formation of this body should lend some encouragement to the Northeasterners, at least to the less sceptical portion thereof, of a [Page 356] promise of greater participation in the affairs of Manchuria by North-easterners. The provision in the Regulations for the possible establishment of a Mongolian Banner Rehabilitation Committee within the Commission is a good move, if implemented effectively, but the Regulations by the use of the phrase “may establish” in Article 9, instead of “will” or “shall establish”, do not indicate that it is intended that the Commission do much toward conciliating the Eastern Mongols in the Northeast.
The recent recall to duty in Manchuria of five native Northeastern officers of general rank, who have been serving with troops in intramural China, together with the establishment of the Political Affairs Commission with a Standing Committee predominantly Northeastern, gives rise to the belief in some quarters that both of these moves, coming as they do on the heels of Bullitt’s article on China38 and perhaps just prior to the release of the Wedemeyer report on China,39 may be in effect little more than window-dressing with a view toward building up favorable public opinion in the United States.
- Enclosures not printed.↩
- Chang Kia-ngao, then governor of the Central Bank of China.↩
- William C. Bullitt, former Ambassador in the Soviet Union and in France, author of article in Life magazine.↩
- September 19; Department of State, United States Relations With China, (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1949), pp. 764–814. See pp. 635 ff.↩