761.93/12–1947: Airgram
The Ambassador in China (Stuart) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 31—9:28 a.m.]
A–275. In a conversation this morning on Sino-Soviet negotiations over Dairen, Dr. George Yeh, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, said that the Soviets have recently, in general, shown a tendency to be more conciliatory without making any significant concessions. The principal channel of this “flirtation” has been a group of high ranking officers in the Ministry of National Defense, particularly in G–2, who were trained in the Soviet Union and who all speak Russian. This group, though by no means the predominating clique in the Ghinese Army, does have a certain entrée because one of its members is Chiang Ching-kuo, son of the Generalissimo.
Dr. Yeh added that in recent weeks the Soviet Military Attaché has been most active in entertaining these officers and in other ways cultivating them. The Soviet Military Attaché has been using the argument that a military settlement of the Communist problem is impossible but that a political settlement is wholly feasible. He has, on occasion, even suggested that the Soviet Union could possibly be useful in this respect. Dr. Yeh said these Soviet efforts have not been wholly without success and that there is increasing talk in the clique that a political settlement with the Communists is the only solution and that a closer understanding with the Soviet Union is both desirable and necessary.