893.00/6–2745
Memorandum by Mr. Everett F. Drumright of the Division of Chinese Affairs
The attached Chungking telegram No. 1055, June 27,83 quotes a press report to the effect that Dr. Chiang Mon-lin, President of Peking University, now situated at Kunming, has been appointed Secretary General of the Executive Yuan. Dr. Chiang, who was educated in the United States, may be regarded as a representative of the “liberal wing” of the Kuomintang. At the recent Kuomintang Congress in Chungking Dr. Chiang was elected a member of the Central Supervisory Committee of the Kuomintang.
Along with Dr. Hu Shih, Dr. Chiang is regarded as one of the foremost of modern-day Chinese intellectuals. He is thoroughly familiar with democracy as it is practiced in the United States, and he is an ardent exponent of its transplantation to China to such extent as is possible in a country possessing such a different culture and civilization from that existing in the United States.
In China Dr. Chiang, who is President of the Chinese Red Cross, has strongly urged the reformation of the Chinese Army, particularly the Army Medical Corps.
There is no question but that Dr. Chiang is a man of great personal integrity and high ideals. His probable drawbacks are that he lacks administrative experience in public affairs and the immense energy needed to function in high office.
However, on balance, his appointment to this important administrative position in the Executive Yuan, which was undoubtedly initiated by T. V. Soong, must be regarded as an encouraging development. The possibility is that with Dr. Soong, Dr. Wong Wen-hao and Dr. Chiang heading up the Executive Yuan the civil administration of the National Government may undergo marked improvement.
- Not printed.↩