893.01 Manchuria/1423
The Consul General at Harbin (Adams) to the Ambassador in China (Johnson)36
Sir: I have the honor to inform the Embassy that during the past several days a large number of persons of the Chinese race, almost 400 according to some informants, have been arrested by the gendarmes and police.
As was said to be the case in the recently divulged plot in Antung,* there seems to be little doubt that these arrests were caused by the discovery of undercover anti-Japan-“Manchukuo” activities inspired by groups in China. According to such scattered bits of information as are available, for of course nothing has been said by the officials and nothing published regarding the arrests, the subversive activities centered around large commercial establishments operated by merchants from China, chiefly Shanghai; and it is said that the books of several were sequestered when the owners or managers were taken into custody. Unlike the Antung plot, which was carried out by officials and teachers, that in Harbin apparently was engineered by business people, for only a few teachers and one minor official have been apprehended, as far as this office is aware. One report had it that the “traitors” were discovered by the interception of a letter having to do with the election of officers of a “Peoples National Front”, which may or may not be identical with the Paokuohui mentioned in the enclosure37 to Mukden’s despatch No. 100 of March 31, 1937. It is assumed that a secret military trial, similar to that in Mukden, will shortly be held, and that it will be protracted, for when a British firm inquired how soon an arrested employee would be liberated, the reply was that no encouragement could be given as to his release in the near future.
It is only natural to suppose that groups in China and Manchuria have organized anti-Japanese and anti-“Manchukuo” secret societies, and although the press of Manchuria is prone to label all such groups as “communist”, there is little reason to suppose that there is much actual communist agitation among the native population. The more natural assumption is that followers of Chang Hsueh-liang and the old Northeastern Army have formed the nucleus of an insurgent organization, possibly with assistance from Nanking; there may, on the other hand, be several different organizations created by different groups and for different purposes. Some may have connections with [Page 919] Soviet Russia, as has been alleged regarding the well-disciplined and equipped “bandits” who have been raiding far and wide in northeastern Manchuria for the past several months.
According to the Harbin Nichi-Nichi of April 8, 1937, translation enclosed,38 Tsitsihar has likewise been the seat of treason. Eight members of a Buddhist society were sentenced to imprisonment by the “Manchukuo” Third Army Division for their “attempt against the country”. It was said that the accused, under instructions from Peiping, planned to attack various officers of the local government.
The Embassy will be kept informed of any further developments which may come to the attention of the Consulate General.
Respectfully yours,