893.00/3–347: Telegram
The Ambassador in China (Stuart) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 6—6:50 a.m.]
433. During the latter part of February there were brief scattered items in the vernacular press stating that police officials in Shanghai, Chungking and Peiping had been rounding up and arresting large numbers of individuals considered as undesirable.
Investigation reveals that the widest scale activity took place in Peiping. Beginning the night of February 17 and continuing for several nights, the police did in fact round up between 2,000 and 3,000 persons, most of whom are still detained. The authorities later announced that the purpose was to pick up vagrants, opium smokers, those in possession of arms and those lacking residence permits. The arrests, however, also included the publisher of the Sino-American [Page 52] press, head of CNRRA96 welfare section and a well-known PUMC97 physician, all of whom have disappeared. They also included some students and professors of known liberal or left wing sympathies and other individuals hostile to the Central Government for one reason or another, as well as numerous known Communists. The result has been [apparent omission] liberal groups in Peiping, particularly among university students who fear that these current incidents presage, upon the withdrawal of American forces from north China (sic), a concerted drive to suppress elements of whom the Government disapproves. Some 600 students are reported to have resigned from Peita98 to seek cover elsewhere.
A petition has recently been issued by 13 prominent Peiping professors strongly protesting the arrests and demanding adequate Government guarantees of civil liberties. Hu Shih, President of Peita, is reliably reported to the Embassy to have seemed to acquiesce in Government action in the sense that he has taken no known action, and students no longer give much credence to his assurances that student rights will be vigorously protected. Academic circles are increasingly critical of him, as on the other hand Wang Shih-chieh99 seems to have been unable to persuade him to join in reorganized government.
The reports of arrests in Shanghai appear to be completely false.
There have apparently been a few arrests in Chungking, though on a relatively limited scale and so far not involving intellectual groups, except for leaders of the recent mass student demonstrations which have been keeping the city in a perennial uproar, but liberal groups anticipate trouble.
It was to be expected that action would be taken against Communists in north China and Chungking. Since the organization of Executive Headquarters the Communists have been relatively free to operate under what in effect was a safe conduct from the Government. They used this time and opportunity to filter into various strategic positions which can now be very helpful in the prosecution of the Communist cause in China. With the termination of Executive Headquarters and the American mediation, it is only to be expected that the Government which now finds itself waging an all-out civil war will vigorously pursue a campaign of eliminating or demobilizing those whom it believes will fight against it from within. The unfortunate part is that any roundup of this sort lends itself to gross abuses and will in the end include not only Communists but also any opposition elements, as well as many individuals who have had personal differences [Page 53] or difficulties with the local authorities. It is not unlikely that liberal elements will suffer even more than the Communists since the latter are an organized group in a better position to protect themselves and as a last resort can always make their way to Communist controlled areas. The liberals, who are opposed to authoritarianism and as well as incapacity of the present Government but who also cannot see their way clear to joining the Communists, are in a far less fortunate position for obvious reasons.
In these circumstances I made occasion to have a frank talk with Shen Chang-huan, Gimo’s private secretary, and was able informally but forcefully to suggest how unfortunate as well as unjust would be the casting of a political dragnet for Communists which would intimidate or catch those liberal elements to whom the reorganized State Council and Executive Yuan should look for support.