893.00/2–1945: Telegram
The Ambassador in China (Hurley) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 20—1:06 p.m.]
249. Late tonight I received the following telegram through secret Army transmission from General Chou En-lai, Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China:
“Following letter dated February 18:
Dear General Hurley: I am ever grateful for the kindness extended to me while I was in Chungking. After my return to Yenan I have made a detailed report to the Central Committee of my Party and to Chairman Mao Tze-tung. Since at present the democratic coalition government has not yet come into existence in China and the existing National Government is completely a one-party dictatorship of the Kuomintang which can represent neither the 10 million people of the Chinese liberated areas nor the common will of the broad masses of people in areas under Kuomintang control, consequently, in the United [Page 235] Nations Conference which is to be convened on April 25 in San Francisco, China cannot be represented by a delegation sent by the Kuomintang Government only. While I was in Chungking you told me that the delegation to the San Francisco Conference should consist of the representatives of the Kuomintang, the Communist Party and the Democratic Federation. The Central Committee of our Party and Chairman Mao Tze-tung are in complete agreement with you. We consider furthermore that the representatives of the Kuomintang should be limited to ⅓ of the delegation [garbled passage omitted]. The other ⅔ of the delegation should be sent by the Communist Party and the Democratic Federation. Only then can the common will of the Chinese people be fairly represented, otherwise that delegation could never be in a position to settle any problem in the conference on behalf of China. Will you be so kind as to transmit this message to the President of the United States. With my best regards and respects, signed: Chou En-lai.”
I immediately replied7 to Chou En-lai as follows:
“Thanks for your kind telegram. I was happy to hear from you. I did discuss with you the coming conference at San Francisco but I made it clear to you that only the National Government of China has been invited to participate in that conference. I made no attempt to decide how the National Government would be represented in the conference. I had no authority to make a decision on that subject, that is the prerogative of the National Government. It is altogether proper for me to express to you my candid opinion which is that the President and Generalissimo of the National Government of China, known internationally as the Republic of China, will be recognized as the representative of China at the conference and the President alone, in my opinion, will select the staff which will accompany him. The conference at San Francisco is to be a conference of nations, not of political parties within nations. The Communist Party of China is not a nation and, as far as I know, no one has recognized it as a nation. It is one of the political parties of China. The only difference from the ordinary political party is that it is armed. I am further of the opinion that recognition by the conference of any armed political party in China other than the National Government would destroy the possibility of unification of China. I urge that Mao Tze-tung, your Chairman, and you, as Vice Chairman and my friends, consider only the methods by which you can unite with, be included in and cooperate under the National Government of China. On my return, I hope to be able to see Chairman Mao, you and General Chu and be in a position to discuss the situation fully with you.”
General Chou’s statement that I told him that the delegation to the San Francisco Conference should consist of anyone other than the head of the National Government of China and his staff is untrue. You will note that the whole tenor of my reply is a denial of the truth of that statement but I thought it best not to charge him directly [Page 236] with falsification as I think I may be able to use this episode to assist in our effort to bring about the unification of the military forces of China.
- Apparently on February 20.↩