Office of the Historian

893.00/1–349: Telegram

The Ambassador in China (Stuart) to the Secretary of State

Nanking, January 3, 1949—3 p. m.
[Received 11:39 p. m.]

5. Although press is playing up Generalissimo’s2 New Year’s statement3 as indication his willingness step aside to permit peace, Lu Han, Governor Yunnan, who attended military discussions informs us intention Generalissimo’s statement is “if Communists want peace they can have peace; if they want war they can have war”.

Stuart
  1. Chiang Kai-shek, President of the Republic of China.↩
  2. Department of State, United States Relations With China (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1949), p. 920.↩