Foreign Relations of the United States, 1949, The Far East: China, Volume IX

893.00/10–2849: Telegram

The Chargé in India (Donovan) to the Secretary of State

New Delhi, October 28, 1949.
[Received October 28—11:01 a. m.]

1317. Embtel 1273, October 22.³⁹ Delhi Himdustan Times October 28 under dateline Srinagar 27th published following despatch of which portion reads as follows:

“Members of the US Consulate in Sinkiang⁴⁰ who arrived here after a tortuous 71–day journey said yesterday that the recent political changes in Sinkiang were due to a small but powerful group of Communist sympathizers.

“They held the mass of Sinkiang population to be ‘largely indifferent’ both to Red propaganda and the Kuomintang’s efforts to win their loyalty.

“When the Consulate members left Urumchi the capital of Sinkiang in anticipation of the Communist advance, conditions in Sinkiang were generally quiet though the Communists from their strongholds in northern Sinkiang were trying to extend their influence to the south. At that time the Kuomintang-appointed Governor Burhan was still in power.”

Donovan

39. Not printed.
40. For further correspondence regarding closing of Consulate at Tihwa, see vol. viii , “Decision to close Consulates in Nationalist-held China …”.