Foreign Relations of the United States, 1946, The Far East: China, Volume X

Marshall Mission Files, Lot 54–D270

Notes on Meeting Between General Marshall and Mr. “Wang Ping-nan at General Marshall’s Residence, Nanking, September 22, 1946, 9:45 a.m.

Nanking, September 22, 1946, 9:45 a.m.

Also present:	Lt. Col. Hutchin
	Captain Soong

Mister Wang Ping-nan brought a memorandum for General Marshall from General Chou En-lai,⁸⁴ a memorandum which was only received this morning along with instructions to deliver it immediately. In this memorandum, General Chou En-lai emphasized the previous record of the Committee of Three and requested that General Marshall immediately call a meeting of the Committee of Three. General Chou considered that placing the five man committee meeting before one was not only unwarranted but “merely a pretext for purpose of obstruction.”

General Marshall replied that preliminaries to a meeting of the Committee of Three usually involved individual discussions with the Government and the Communist representatives in order to insure a reasonable probability of agreement. To call a meeting of the Committee of Three without any possible grounds for agreement would only result in the further loss of prestige of that Committee.

At the present time, General Marshall could not see the probability of such an agreement. A meeting now would be unprofitable and would weaken the prestige of the Committee of Three.

Consequently, General Marshall was forced to assume that General Chou’s desire in calling for such a meeting at this time is in expectation of a stalemate in the Committee of Three. Even, so, General Marshall will give General Chou’s memorandum very careful consideration and make an early reply. As a matter of fact, the Generalissimo was now traveling in Kiangsi Province and probably would not be in Nanking for a few days.

General Marshall then turned to the issue of Dr. Stuart’s discussion group. He emphasized that the procedure of the informal Five Man Committee was not proposed by the Government but was purely an effort on the part of Dr. Stuart and General Marshall to break the present deadlock. Meanwhile, the attitude of the Communist Party has been—as indicated by General Chou’s statements and the Communist propaganda—that this proposal was originated by the Government for an evil purpose. At the time when this proposal was brought up, Mr. Stuart and General Marshall had good reason to believe that they had obtained the agreement of the Communist Party to the Five Man Committee and that the difficulty would be in persuading the Government to accept such a proposal. However, the situation today is just the reverse. One does not know just what purpose is behind current Communist maneuver.

General Marshall then pointed out that he had noticed from recent propaganda that the Communists are resentful of General Marshall’s bringing the Government’s stipulations, conditions or agreements to General Chou from the Generalissimo. However, General Marshall pointed out that acting as the middle man is his unhappy duty. It is equally disagreeable to carry disagreements or stipulations from General Chou to the Generalissimo.

General Marshall emphatically stated that one point he wanted clarified concerns the vicious propaganda attack directed against his personal integrity. On the one hand, Communists have publicly assailed his personal integrity and honesty of purpose, while on the other hand, in private, they repeatedly ask him to continue his efforts as a mediator. This situation can on longer be tolerated. If the Communists have lost faith in General Marshall, of course his efforts would be ineffective. If this is the case, all that needs to be done is to notify General Marshall and he will immediately withdraw.

Mr. Wang Ping-nan then said that the statements made by General Marshall this morning were of great importance and that he would transmit them to General Chou En-lai immediately. However, he stated that the basic point in the Communist Party’s insistence on the meeting of the Committee of Three is to effect a cessation of hostilities. They could not help but feel that only the meeting of the Committee of Three could produce such a result, particularly in view of present progress in the civil war.

General Marshall asked Mr. Wang’s permission to inject a thought at this point. The Communists probably failed to realize that one great trouble General Marshall has been encountering is to persuade the Government to have more faith in the purpose and methods of the Communist Party. Both General Marshall and Dr. Stuart felt that if only for this reason, their attempt to initiate the Five Man Committee would help provide evidences to be presented in support of their argument with the Government toward moderating the Government’s demands and conditions in securing a termination of hostilities. General Marshall pointed out that it has always been the Government’s attitude that the Communist Party is not going to go through with the reorganization, and that their purpose is to obstruct and delay. On the other hand, it has always been the Communist Party’s attitude that the Government’s wish is to destroy or fatally weaken the Communists, by secret police, military force, or by political means. If faith on either side toward the opposing party can be increased, that would provide a possible base for settlement of hostilities. General Marshall pointed out that Dr. Stuart’s Five Man Group is to help him, and the Committee of Three to achieve the cessation of hostilities.

Mr. Wang then stated that the Communist Party is not unwilling to join Dr. Stuart’s Five Man Group. However, there are two points this group will not be able to solve; one, is the number of seats in the State Council. The Communist Party has repeatedly demanded that the Communist Party and the Democratic League together be allowed to have 14 seats. On this point the Government has not made any statement.

Secondly, this Five Man Group cannot obtain a guarantee from the Government for the cessation of hostilities upon reaching an agreement by the group. Mr. Wang expressed that the purpose of the Communist Party is the termination of hostilities. He believed such a purpose can be achieved by the meeting of the Committee of Three if General Marshall desires. He then explained that General Marshall had encountered similar difficulties prior to the January 10 Cease Fire Agreement and through the meetings of the Committee of Three, such difficulties had been overcome. He expressed belief that the difficulties General Marshall is encountering today can also be overcome by similar procedure.

General Marshall said Dr. Stuart’s discussion group is a procedure much along the same line as that adopted last January, that it was designed to enable Government and Communist representatives to discuss across a conference table in the presence of American mediation, the two basic issues which must be settled before the State Council is established.

Mr. Wang commented that Dr. Stuart’s group is to discuss the initiation of the State Council only and not for the purpose of discussing the cessation of hostilities. He further stated that the Communist Party had agreed one hundred percent to the cessation of hostilities Draft Agreement⁸⁵ during the meeting of the Committee of Three last June. However, the Government only agreed to eighty percent of the agreement, and it was over that last twenty percent that the civil war was now raging in China.

General Marshall stated that during the past, the Communist Party had shown definite evidence of lack of good faith in going through with implementation of agreements. He cited the February 25 Army Reorganization agreement as one example; the Communists’ attacks against Changchun, and again in Shantung in period of June 9–14; and other acts of retaliation since June which have made his task extremely difficult. The present proposal by Dr. Stuart and General Marshall was designed to strengthen the faith of both sides for each other and thus pave the way for a real peace. By sitting the four representatives of the Government and the Communist Party at one table to settle one definite point this might be accomplished. It is necessary to recognize the sickness in order to treat it properly. Complete distrust of each other’s intentions is the ailment.

84. Supra.
85. See draft of June 24, vol. ix, p. 1189.