Office of the Historian

795.001/9–3050

Memorandum by the Director of the Office of Chinese Affairs (Clubb) to the Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs (Rusk)1

secret
[Washington,] September 30, 1950.

Subject: Chinese Communist Troops—Korea

Reference: CA Memo 9/27/50: “Chinese Communist Intentions”

GHQ FEC reports: “An analysis of Korean PW reports reveals conclusively that the Chinese Communist 164th and 166th Divisions were moved into North Korea, via Sinuiju and Nanam, during Aug and Sep 49, and were redesignated as the North Korean 5th and 6th Divisions, respectively. These divisions, prior to their transfer to North Korea, were composed of Koreans serving with the Chinese Communist Army, and as the 3rd and 4th Independent Divisions, fought against the Nationalists in Manchuria.”*

Although this transfer took place in 1949, this report can be related to the recent Peiping admission that Koreans had returned from China to their homeland to participate in its defense and construction. It is of course possible, as implicit in the Peiping statement, that other Koreans have returned home at more recent dates.

Note the further report† that Canton Deputy Mayor Ku Ta-tsun stated at a secret conference in Macao on Aug. 4 that if UN forces opened a second front in Korea Mao Tse-tung would invade Indo-China and probably attack Taiwan at the same time; and, “part of the Communist offensive would be the capturing of military materiel in Hong Kong …”. A source comment cited by GHQ FEC was that the report that Chou En-lai had told a conference that if the Koreans were pushed back to the Manchurian frontier China’s policy would be to fight outside her borders and not wait for the enemy to come inside, and other reports, “indicate that Chinese Communist authorities are deeply concerned over the course of events in Korea and would regard the advance of UN forces to the Manchurian border as a serious threat to their regime. The final decision on whether the Chinese Communists will resort to overt participation in Korea may not be made until UN forces threaten to cross the 38th Parallel.”

  1. The memorandum was also addressed to the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs (Merchant).↩
  2. Intelligence Summary #2929, 9/16/50, China, Manchuria, p. 5. [Footnote in the source text.]↩
  3. ibid., p. 6. [Footnote in the source text]↩