Office of the Historian

893.00/7464: Telegram

The Minister in China (MacMurray) to the Secretary of State

Peking, June 16, 1926—noon.
[Received June 16—5:46 a.m.]

248. My telegram 214, May 18, 6 p.m.48

1.
Yen49 cabinet has not yet functioned, as, in addition to Yen, only the Ministers of the Navy and of Agriculture and Commerce have assumed office.
2.
I was informed by a representative of Chang Tso-lin headquarters that Chang and Wu Pei-fu50 have, through conferences of their delegates, practically agreed that the Yen “governing cabinet” shall disappear and a new cabinet shall be formed. Chang in times passed [past?] insisted that the election of Tsao Kun51 … was unconstitutional and Chang is therefore unable to recognize Yen’s status as Premier since he was appointed by Tsao. My informant said Chang has left formation of the cabinet to Wu. Constitutional issues are not to be raised, which means apparently that the Provisional Constitution [Page 667] of 1912 will be revived. Chang’s proposal to Wu is that the former’s political influence shall be supreme in Manchuria, Suiyiian, Chahar, Jehol, Chihli and Shantung, and the latter’s everywhere else. Wu has not published his acceptance of these proposals nor indicated when he will meet Chang in Peking to confirm the arrangements, but reports are current that Yen has ceased to function and that he will be succeeded by former Minister of Communications Chang Chih-t’an or by Wellington Koo.52
3.
The joint campaign against the Kuominchun53 is being prosecuted with renewed vigor but without substantial result. Chang and Wu profess to be united in determination to eliminate Kuominchun and with it Soviet influence in the North.
4.
I consider the Chang-Wu alliance unstable and see little prospect of China’s emerging in the near future from the present military, political and financial chaos.
MacMurray
  1. Ante, p. 617.↩
  2. Yen Hui-ch’ing (W. W. Yen), Premier and Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs.↩
  3. Chang Tso-lin and Wu Pei-fu were allied military leaders who overthrew the Provisional Government of Tuan Chi-jui. See pp. 591 ff.↩
  4. President of China, 1923–24.↩
  5. Chinese Minister of Finance and former Minister of Foreign Affairs.↩
  6. National armies, formerly controlled by Marshal Feng Yu-hsiang, director general of the Northwestern Defense.↩