893.00/4–2649: Telegram
The Ambassador in China (Stuart) to the Secretary of State
[Received 10:09 p. m.]
875. A message has reached me indirectly from Chinese colleague of many years on Yenching63 faculty, teacher of philosophy who has [Page 278] more recently been drawn into political activities with his close friend Carsun Chang64 in order to help bring peace to his distracted country. He has been mediating with high hopes between Kmt and CCP in Peiping and has been in close touch with latter since their occupation of city. That has enabled him to learn something of their real policies and he is apparently bitterly disillusioned. He is convinced CCP, in thorough understanding with Kremlin, are aiming at world revolution and that to this end will try to eliminate foreigners from China and to prepare this country for its part, on Moscow theory that war is inevitable and should not be postponed until USA is prepared. (This last does not seem to fit in with evidence from other sources that Russia is not ready yet for hostilities.)
In any case, taking this message as sort of “text,” its basic ideas are in accord with other impressions I have recently been receiving.65 Among these are truculent tone and terms of lengthy ultimatum brought to Nanking on April 16; utterly indefensible and deliberate bombardment of British warships on April 20 and 21; treatment of foreign consular officers in northern cities, notably American Consul General, Mukden; unstinted praise of USSR and its peaceful aims; and general harmony between Soviet and CCP propaganda. More especially does vitriolic abuse of USA, repetitious and of ten seemingly irrelevant, seem to have in view something more than resentment over our past aid to Kmt or attempt to deter us from continuing this. It seems to be in line with the Soviet acceptance of contention that we are chief bulwark of capitalism and must therefore be overthrown. These are among outstanding indications of what I am reluctantly coming to believe is correct description of CCP policy. We have suffered in past from our unwillingness to recognize intensity of conviction or of ambition in lust for world dominion. I had to overcome all my own instincts and presuppositions before I finally admitted to myself that Japanese had this illusory dream. I find myself passing through somewhat similar process in observing CCP. In their case we are fully aware of “historical necessity” for this in their fanatical[ly] believed dogmas. There is at any rate enough of a probability for such program as already actually entered upon by CCP for us to consider concrete details of our own policy in its light. It is after all no more than speeding up of their openly avowed objectives, made possible by unexpectedly swift weakening of Kmt capacity to retard their advance.
Sent Department 875, repeated Shanghai 455, OffEmb Canton 313.