793.94/6865: Telegram
The Counselor of Legation in China (Peck) to the Secretary of State
[Received 2:15 p.m.]
28. 1. The French Minister told me February 10, 7 p.m. that he had received a visit from Suma with whom he had talked for almost 2 hours. Apparently Suma spoke with his usual frankness for he told the Minister that China not only is not organized as a state now but that it never was and never would be. He attributed this partly to the individualistic character of the Chinese which leads them to be indifferent to matters of public concern and partly to their alleged complete lack of idealism. He said that if Chiang Kai-shek should die or fall from power the only man in the whole country who could take his place would be the Kwangsi leader Pai Chung-hsi and that since Pai has tuberculosis he would not last more than 2 years.
2. Suma said that during the recent visit of Chiang to Nanking he had told Chiang frankly that China must be not only the friend of Japan but the special friend and had asked him whether he understood this to which Chiang had returned his usual noncommittal grunt which is his habitual device for avoiding affirmative or negative responses.
3. Suma is constantly reiterating to Chinese and foreigners alike that it is China’s destiny to be linked closely with Japan and he recently expressed the opinion that the Chinese leaders are slowly beginning to realize this (a Chinese newspaper representative informed me February 9, 4 p.m. that he had heard that Chiang and Wang Chingwei had adopted the practice of replying to all Japanese arguments like the above with polite assent and had refused to be drawn into discussion).
4. It will be noticed that Suma’s emphasis on the inevitable close association between Japan and China agrees with the tenor of press despatches from Japan purporting to record the views of the Japanese Minister and other Japanese statesmen. It is becoming a real question whether the constant iteration of this statement will not soon begin to carry some conviction to Chinese leaders in Nanking and even to the Chinese public especially in the light of the apparent absorption of America and Europe in their own problems and their diminished interest in the economic and political affairs of the Far East. The proper classification of officials in Nanking as pro-Japanese or pro-European and American reflects the traditional Chinese view that internationally China cannot stand on its own feet but must place reliance either on Occident or on Japan.