893.00/3–245: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 3—12:50 a.m.]
2160. In commenting to an officer of the Embassy this afternoon on General Chiang Kai-shek’s March 1 appeal for unity and announcement of the calling of a National Assembly on November 12 to inaugurate a constitutional government,26a Sterndale Bennett27 said that the problem had now been given a definite official airing but that Chiang’s statement did not seem to take us much further forward.
According to Bennett, the Foreign Office believes the crux of the Kuomintang–Communist problem is the demand of the Chungking Government that the Communist armies be incorporated in the national army and the reluctance of the Communists to accede to this demand. Bennett went on to say that it is difficult to decide how far western governments would be justified in putting pressure on Chiang to come to a settlement with the Communists. He asked if we could confirm his impression that recently the American Government had been refraining from active participation in the effort to reach a solution of this problem, particularly since Ambassador Hurley’s visit to Yenan. He was told that the Embassy had no information on this point.
In discussing the problems involved in making decisions regarding China, Bennett referred to the difficulty of obtaining a true picture [Page 259] of what is going on in China merely from written reports. Because of this he expressed the strong hope that General Hurley would be able to accept the Foreign Secretary’s28 invitation to visit London, which he said had been extended through the British Embassy in Washington. Bennett feels that a visit from General Hurley will be of real value and will greatly contribute towards bringing our policies in line with each other.