The China White Paper 1949(XVI)

In China Hurley had spent much time in mediating the differences between the CCP and the Nationalist Government. Another problem for Hurley was about the supplying American arms and equipment to China other than the Nationalist Government. In January 1945 Chu Teh (朱德) asked the US to lend the Communist forces US 20 million dollars for the purpose of "procuring the defection of officers and man of the Chinese puppet government. "1 Such a proposal was objected by Hurley. In mid-February 1945 Hurley returned to the US for consultation. When he left Washington for Chungking in early April 1945, he travelled by way of London and Moscow. While in Moscow, Hurley had a discussion with Stalin and Molotov.2 He recorded this discussion in a report dated April 17, 1945. In this report Hurley was optimistic about USSR's attitude towards US's policy in China, saying that Stalin would be glad "to cooperate with the US and Britain in achieving unification of the military forces in China."3 However, Hurley's optimism as presented in his report was not shared by the Charge d'Affaires in Moscow, George Kennan. Kennan in his report dated April 23, 1945 stated that while nothing in Hurley's report was not honest, it had to be understood that "to the Russians words mean different things than they do to us." Kennan believed that Soviet's policy towards China would still be "a fluid resilient policy directed at the achievement of maximum power with minimum responsibility on portions of the Asiatic continent lying beyond the Soviet border . . . within the framework of this policy Moscow will aim specifically at :(1) Re-acquiring in substance, if not in form, all the diplomatic and territorial assets previously possessed on the mainland of Asia by Russia under the Czars . . . (3) Acquiring sufficient control in all areas of north China now dominated by the Japanese to prevent other foreign powers from repeating the Japanese incursion. . . It would be tragic if our natural anxiety for the support of the Soviet Union [leads] us into an undue reliance on Soviet aid."4 (to be continued)

Notes:
1.United States, Department of State. The China White Paper-August 1949. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1967, page 86.
2. page 94.
3. page 95.
4. page 97.