893.00B/12–1349: Telegram
The Consul General at Shanghai (McConaughy) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 14—12:47 a. m.]
5200. In course of long conversation at dinner party December 10, Cheng Kang-chi (remytel 5191, December 1312), former Nationalist career diplomat now acting as advisor to Communist Alien Affairs Bureau here, told me that Communist regime still suffering acutely from lack of experienced and qualified personnel in diplomatic field. Chou En-lai and Chang Han-fu said to be screening carefully Chinese Nationalist Foreign Service list. Contrary to general impression in Chinese Nationalist diplomatic circles, not all Chinese diplomatic and consular officers who defect will be retained by Communists. Some who have already made overtures to Communists have been marked for rejection as politically undependable or too closely identified with high Kmt policy.
Presumably, Vice Minister-Designate Chang Han-fu depends to certain extent on Cheng Kang-chi for information and advice on even elementary procedural matters, although it is clear that Communists do not fully trust Cheng Kang-chi and do not seek his advice in matters basic policy. I gather that Cheng Kang-chi has shown considerable courage in trying, although apparently without much success, to correct some of the fundamental misconceptions of Communists in area of foreign relationships and diplomatic history.
Cheng says, for example, that Communists inclined to regard everything in terms of all black or all white. They consider everything done by Nationalist Government during past 22 years must have been wholly evil. Cheng says he has gone to great lengths to convince them that, while Nationalist Government has many sins to answer for, there were some devoted and able public servants in positions of authority in the Nationalist Government who took some actions and made some agreements which were greatly in the interest of the Chinese people.
[Page 628]Cheng says Communists convinced every treaty and other international agreement entered into by Kmt must somehow be constituted betrayal of Chinese people. If they could not find any clause in a treaty as promulgated to which they can object, then they are convinced that there must be “secret protocol” attached which sells Chinese people down the river. Cheng indicates that they are obsessed with this idea of secret clauses to treaties and that this partly accounts for their reluctance to take stand as to which treaties they intend to respect.
Cheng declares there is woeful lack of archives, reference material and scholarship available to Communist Foreign Office. He says Nationalist Foreign Office either evacuated or destroyed its archives including certified copies of treaties ratified by China. Communist regime has been entirely unsuccessful in its efforts to assemble authentic texts of treaties to which Cheng [China] is a party. He says that they literally do not know what treaty obligations they have inherited and cannot be sure they have true texts of those treaties which they know about. He believes this will delay settlement of question of treaty obligations.
A useful purpose might be served if Communist regime could be provided with authentic texts of valid Chinese treaties and other international agreements with all countries. Cheng says Chang Han-fu seems to have accepted his idea that “reasonable period” must elapse before Communists can expect action on their recognition bid of October 1. Communist officials pressing him periodically for precise definition of “reasonable period”. He assures them that no exact time limit can be set. They have been somewhat discomfited by his reminder that US did not recognize Soviet Government for 16 years after October Revolution,13 and that Czarist Government did not recognize American independence for some years after American Revolution.
- Not printed.↩
- For documentation on recognition of the Soviet Union by the United States on November 16, 1933, see Foreign Relations, 1933, vol. ii, pp. 778 ff.↩