Foreign Relations of the United States, 1949, The Far East: China, Volume VIII

893.00/11–1549

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Acting Deputy Director of the Office of Chinese Affairs (Freeman)

[Washington,] November 15, 1949.

• Participants: Dr. T. V. Soong⁶⁸
• Mr. Thomas Corcoran⁶⁹
• Ambassador James Bruce, S/MDA⁷⁰
• Mr. Jack Ohly, S/MDA⁷¹
• Mr. Fulton Freeman, CA

At a small luncheon today given by Ambassador Bruce at the Mayflower Hotel for Dr. T. V. Soong, the latter discussed several points of interest with regard to the situation in China. Some of these remarks were in answer to questions; others Dr. Soong volunteered himself. A summary of Dr. Soong’s principal points follows:

1. The recent victory of the Nationalist forces at Quemoy Island is an indication of Sun Li-jen’s ability to fight the Communists and is also an indication of the willingness to fight of the troops which will be called upon to defend Taiwan. In the neighborhood of 20,000 Communist troops were either killed or captured in the battle for Quemoy.

2. There are now some 700,000 Nationalist guerrillas behind the bamboo curtain who continue to harass the Communists.

3. In May of this year General Liu Fei,⁷² who had already defected to the Communists, held an unpublicized meeting with General Cheng K’ai-ming⁷³ in Hong Kong and endeavored to convince General Cheng that he had no future with the Nationalists and should also go over to the Communist side. Liu pointed out that, although Cheng was high on the Communist list of war criminals he would be welcomed with open arms because of his “connections.” In turning down the suggestion, Cheng stated that he did not wish to become a Soviet puppet and indicated that Communist China, having already lost Manchuria, was fast becoming merely a Soviet satellite. Liu tacitly admitted the temporary loss of China north of the 40th parallel to the Soviets, but he pointed out that China would have her big chance during the imminent third world war while Russia was busy in Europe. At that time, Liu indicated, China would send out several groups of expeditionary forces: 50,000 to Indochina; 200,000 to Malaya and Singapore; 20,000 each to Siam and Burma; and 400,000 to India and Pakistan. After conquering these countries, Liu stated, Communist governments would be established which would look to China rather than to Russia as the parent power. In this way the power of the Kremlin in the Far East would be counterbalanced and China would have the last laugh at the Western Powers as well as full control of Southeast Asia.

4. Plans have now been made by Pai Chung-hsi to transfer his headquarters from Kwangsi to Hainan Island which will be the “impregnable” eastern end of a Nationalist corridor running through the Luichow Peninsula and Kwangsi to Kunming. The shift of Pai’s headquarters to Hainan does not mean that Kwangsi will not be defended; it will rather make defense of the Luichow Peninsula and therefore access to Kwangsi and Yunnan more easy. Although Hainan does not grow a sufficient amount of food to feed the troops that will be stationed there, agreement has been reached with the Generalissimo that rice will be shipped to Hainan from Taiwan. (The growing of sugar on Taiwan is to be discontinued and rice will be planted in its place.)

5. General Sun Li-jen is in actual as well as nominal control of all ground forces on Taiwan and has the full support of the Generalissimo. General Chou Chih-jou who is in command of the airforce, while nominally responsive to Chen Cheng as governor, is actually on bad terms with Chen but is cooperating with Sun. Arrangements have been made for Taiwan to provide the necessary air and naval support to General Pai in Hainan.

6. The principal difficulty on Taiwan at the present time is the lack of sufficient arms and equipment for the ground defense forces. Six of Sun Li-jen’s divisions are fully trained and fully equipped with US arms; six additional divisions, however, while also fully trained are completely lacking in equipment. Dr. Soong estimated that it would require approximately US$20,000,000 to equip these six divisions with US arms, but that such an expenditure would make Taiwan invincible for some time to come. He reiterated that the Generalissimo would not interfere with Sun’s plans to defend the Island. (At one point Mr. Corcoran said that there was one statement which he would make which Dr. Soong in his position could not make, namely, that neither he nor Dr. Soong “had ever gotten along very well with Chiang Kai-shek.” This remark brought forth only a trace of a smile from Dr. Soong which communicated nothing.)

7. If it becomes necessary to move the capital from Chungking, it will probably be shifted to Kunming and not to Taiwan, at least for the time being.

Mr. Corcoran brought up the subject of the recent defection of 12 CNAC and CATC planes from Hong Kong, strongly implying that the US Government should have done something to prevent their going to the Communists. He stated, as if it were an announced fact, that the British Government would recognize the Chinese Communists on December 15 and pointed out that if the remaining CNAC and CATC planes were still in Hong Kong on that date, title would automatically pass to the Communists. Mr. Freeman remarked in this connection that there had been no American citizens involved in the defection of Chinese commercial planes and crews and that the matter appeared to be one for discussion between the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities. He suggested that it might be well for the Chinese Government, rather than to insist on the freezing of CNAC and CATC assets in Hong Kong, to request permission to have the remaining planes flown to Taiwan or Hainan by reliable crews in order to reduce the possibility of having a large number of planes in Hong Kong when and if the British recognized the Chinese Communists. Dr. Soong appeared to recognize the dangers inherent in the present situation and indicated that he would bring the matter to the attention of the Chinese Government.

There was no discussion of the $75 million fund for expenditure in the general area of China per se, and the only oblique request for US assistance brought forward by Dr. Soong was the suggestion that $20 million was needed to arm and equip Sun Li-jen’s additional six divisions in Taiwan to insure the defense of that Island. Ambassador Bruce listened sympathetically to Dr. Soong throughout, but made no commitments.

68. Brother-in-law of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and former President of the Chinese Executive Yuan.
69. Partner of Corcoran, Youngman, and Rowe, Washington law firm.
70. Director of Mutual Defense Assistance Program; formerly Ambassador to Argentina.
71. John H. Ohly, Deputy Director of Mutual Defense Assistance Program.
72. Former Deputy Chief of the Chinese General Staff.
73. Chinese Vice Minister of National Defense.