793.94119/691: Telegram
The Consul General at Shanghai (Lockhart) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 22—1:25 p.m.]
1288. 1. From a highly placed Japanese official with whom I talked a few days ago I gathered that the Japanese are putting considerable dependence in Wang Ching-wei as a possible intermediary between them and Chiang Kai-shek.
I was told that Wang would be a very strong supporter of any reasonable peace move that might be put forward by the Japanese even to the point, if necessary, of sacrificing his political fortunes now or in the future. It was represented to me that Wang’s political maneuvers from the beginning have been designed with the restoration of peace as the main objective—that he has at no time abandoned that guiding principle. My informant paid tribute to Wang’s courage and his determination, as my informant described it, to do something constructive for his country; that he was by nature not destructive, but was following what he often believed was a course of action that would in the end benefit China. My informant stressed at length Wang’s interest in the economic development of China and I gained [Page 442] that this at least was common ground on which he and the Japanese stood; that trade and the development of the natural and industrial resources of China would form the foundation of any agreement by which the present hostilities might be brought to an end. My informant also stressed the part of the Japanese army played in all economic questions in China and said frankly the army must control the economy of China if it hopes to retain any control over the country; that economic control is something that the Chinese can see and feel, and that it cannot be as easily circumvented as political control. (This may explain in part, if any explanation is necessary, the rigid import, export and exchange regulations and blockade restriction on exports now in force in certain areas.)
2. My informant appeared to feel that Wang was prepared to agree to the merging of the Nanking regime and the National Government if a reasonable peace could be negotiated. This harmonizes with the information contained in the last substantive paragraph of Nanking’s 121, November 19, 4 p.m., to the Department.82
3. The foregoing is confidentially communicated to the Department for what it may be worth and because it comes from a person whom I have known for several years and who is closely associated with Japanese and Chinese leaders in Nanking and Shanghai.
Sent to Department. Repeated to Chungking and Peiping. Code text by air mail to Tokyo.
- Not printed.↩