893.00/14816
The Consul General at Hong Kong (Southard) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 17.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to this Consulate’s telegram no. 437, October 22, 10 a.m.,52 quoting a statement of the Hong Kong representative of Marshal Chang Hsueh-liang on the subject of the latter’s release, and to its despatch no. 1035 dated October 23, 1941,52 transmitting a memorandum of a conversation with the representative in Hong Kong of the Chinese “National Socialist Party” on the subject of that party and of the “Federation of Democratic Parties in China”, and, further in the same connection, to submit herewith a copy of a memorandum prepared by Consul Ward of the staff of this office* covering his conversation with the local representative of the Northeastern Faction, Mr. Chou Ching-wen.
Summary of the Memorandum. Mr. Chou stated that, although he had never been a soldier, he had been one of the original members of a secret anti-Japanese society formed in Hsian by the Young Marshal in 1936; that after the Hsian affair the Central Government discovered the existence of this society, and its members were forced to scatter, some of them coming to Hong Kong, where a new and expanded group was formed, its object being to procure the release of the Young Marshal by the Generalissimo. Mr. Chou is the head of the Hong Kong branch (which numbers about 100 hundred [sic] members, or a fifth of the total membership) of this group, and hence is regarded as the [Page 542] Young Marshal’s representative in this city. The Hong Kong branch owns two magazines and a book-store here, and through its publications has kept alive the issue of General Chang’s captivity, advancing three arguments for his release: (1) that he could do much to lessen the tension between the Chinese Communists and the Kuomintang, since he has the confidence and good-will of the former without being himself one of them; (2) that he would make the most effective leader of the Northeastern Armies in any drive to recover Manchuria; and (3) that he would probably be able to procure the return to their original allegiance of former Northeastern officers who have gone over either to the Communists or to Wang Ching-wei. They are at present confident that they are near success, having received word from Chungking that the Young Marshal is now there, and is in conference with General Pai Ch’ung-hsi and other leaders, although General Ho and certain members of the Cheng Hsueh Hsi oppose his release.
Comment. There would appear to be little reason to question the sincerity or bona fides of Chou and the group he represents: they have one perfectly clear aim, and that is to procure the Young Marshal’s freedom and his appointment to some post of real power and responsibility in which he could take his part in carrying to a successful conclusion the resistance of a united China against the Japanese. It is probable that without Chang and his Hsian Coup, neither unity nor resistance would ever have been possible, and to many Chinese the release of the hero of that thrilling tour de force would set the stage as nothing else could for the fitting end of the second act of the drama of modern China, and might even save the whole play from a tragic anticlimax at its close.53
Respectfully yours,