Marshall Mission Files, Lot 54–D270
Minutes of Meeting Between General Marshall and General Chang Chih-chung, at House 28, Chungking, January 31, 1946, 2 p.m.
| Also present: | Col. Caughey |
| Col. Pee | |
| Mr. Shepley |
General Chang opened the meeting by stating that the Generalissimo has carefully read General Marshall’s reorganization plan74 and would like to introduce certain changes.
First the Generalissimo desired to change the 15 divisions back to 20 divisions in order to avoid embarrassment to General Marshall. General Chang would then make representation to the Communists to cut it to 15, and if the Communists objected, then concessions could be made by the National Government. General Marshall stated that it would be very easy for him to discuss the plan with the Communists on the basis of 15 divisions and stated that possibly the Generalissimo was not aware of the fact that General Marshall had not shown this plan to the Communists. General Marshall also stated that if the government wanted him to say 20, he would say 20 but that he felt this may be harmful to the government in view of the previous Communist commitment indicating their willingness to accept a 1 to 6 ratio. General Chang then agreed that the government proposal should be 90–15 divisions and then asked General Marshall how he proposed to put the program up to the Communists. General Marshall stated that he proposed to talk to General Chou with reference to the Communist proposals to such a plan, then talk again to General Chang after which General Chou and General Chang should meet. At the conclusion of the meeting a new paper would be prepared in the light of the two conversations and the meeting.
General Chang stated that the second point to which the Generalissimo objected was the 9 armies in Manchuria. The Generalissimo stated that there should be from 4 to 6. It was then agreed that the plan would show 5 armies for Manchuria and this brought up the [Page 202] question of disposition of the other 4. General Marshall asked General Chang if there were any restrictions regarding the use of National armies in Sinkiang. General Chang said that the Soviet Consul had objected to possible use of more than 30,000 troops but that this had been refuted by General Chang representing the National Government. General Marshall then suggested that General Chang see the Generalissimo with reference to sending an army to Japan.
General Chang then stated that the Generalissimo would like to have the second paragraph of Section 1 to Article III written in the positive sense and that the idea that a two-thirds vote of the National Council should be deleted since it had not yet been established how many votes would constitute a majority for such action. General Marshall then stated that he would have this paragraph reworded and would leave open for discussion the question of the two-thirds majority.
General Chang stated that Article VII should also be put into a positive sense. General Marshall stated that he would have this paragraph reworded also.
General Marshall then pointed out the differences in Western tradition and Eastern tradition with reference to military affairs and impressed on General Chang the necessity for the Central Government to accept the Western ideas in order to develop a nationalized, non-political armed force. General Chang then stated that he personally hoped that the Generalissimo would become the Washington of China by emulating Western democracy. He also referred to the Russian and German missions previously established in China and then stated that their hope was to follow the educational and training methods of the United States through the proposed Military Advisory Group.75
- Not printed; it probably was draft No. 5, about January 25.↩
- For correspondence on this subject, see vol. x, pp. 724 ff.↩