To the Ealtor of the '"Nonmn-Ciina Dany News"
'SimyIn conversation with my foreign friends 1 have noticed a mistaken tendency on the part of many of them to laber Mr. Wang Ching-wel a some even, responding to Chungking propaganda, Ubeltously' call him a traitor. That this {s due mainly to misunderstand. ing and ignorance of the real facts seems evident from the fact that usually "a little explanation is sufllent to cause them to change their Ylews.. There must, T feel, be many more foreigners labouring under the same mistake, but unfortunately without" someone to explain that mistake to them. It is in the hope of reaching some of these that address this letter to you.
Mz. Wang Ching-wel has been the right-hand man of the Into Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Chinese Republic and the author of the Bible of the Revolution, the Three People's Principles. Tt_was Mr. Wang who drafted "Dr. Sun's Last Will and Testament, which is recited on every formal occasion in Kuomintang Chino, even in the territories under the vontrol of the Chungking Government.
Sun consistently advocated Sino-Japanese friendship and ce-operation as the basis of peace in the Far East and of the well-being of the people of both countries. Mr, Wang, follow-Ing Dr, Sun, has always worked for friendly relations with Japan. That does not mean that he has preached friendship at any cost, that he has dvorated peace at the price of China's independence and "national Uiberty, When no other course than resistance has been open, where Feslstance could be offered with reasonable chance of success, he has advocated resistance. 'There' was no! bitterer critic than Mr. Wang of the failure to resist In Manchoukuo and Sehot In '1031 and "1992. But he! insisted "on the policy of direct Hegotiation simultaneous with the polley of resistance. On the other Rand, where resistance could only mean further disaster, while peace could be negotiated without further Joss, he has always advocated peace. Thus "he negotiated the Shanghar Aareement of 1932, whereby the Tapanose withdrew their forees from What area on terms far from unsatisfactory to China. 'Thus during. the three years following that agreement he. maintained peace with Japan without the loss of 9 single square Inch of territory, while China, in the breathing space' thus afforded her, went ahead by leaps and bounds. Then unfortunately came, the oss03- sin's bullet which forced him Into Folltement, and when he returned carly in 1997 It was to find the government, under the leadership of General Chiang Kal-shek, committed to friendship. with Moscow and 9 Bley or detberate provocation of Tt was not Mr. Wang's polley which brought about hostilities in the summer of 1937. General Chiang himself Had "declared but a short while previously that China was in no state fo Mgnt Japan, and Mr. Wang could hot discern any wisdom of plunging China into a hopeless conflict from which only loss and disaster could Fesult, "Nevertheless, once wai Became inevitable he did all he could to. make. resistance as effective possible, while leaving the door open fo. negotiation, believing that the stouter' the resistance the greater'the respect inspired in Japanese hearts for China, and the sooner the realiza~ tion of an honourable. peace. would be" made possible. In December, 1097, his attitude was "justified by the receipt of the "Trautman pro-petals, These proposal By" all members of the Supreme National "Defence Council, to. form a basis on Which negotiation ould be started. General Chiang hhimsole agreed. Yet it was General Chiang who, "submitting to Com. munist, pressure, eventually tured them down, A full account of what happened has been made: public by 'Mr. Wang, an account which no responsible Chungking leader, no one who has participated in the' delibera: tons, has ever attempted to refute.
Convinced that pence by negotia. tion. was possible, believing, and be-Heving rightly, as subsequent events have shown, that further warfare meant only further losses and disaster for China, appalled by the misery and suffering of millions of his fellow-countrymen in the war zones, misery. which grew daily greater as war and the misapplied scorched-earth policy took their toll—and In accordance with the decisions taken by the Supreme National Defence Council In December, 1099, and by the Emergency Coneress of the Kuomintang April 1938—Mr. Wang from that time on consistently strove to. bring General Chiang to the way of peace, but without success. "He made a last attempt In December, 1938, when he {trled to prevent the election of the Konoye Declaration. "When that attempt failed he felt that the only course left him was to scck peace outside the Chungking Government.
This: decision meant considerable personal sacrifice to Mr. Wang, and exposed him to grave bodily danger. 'Almost immediately a murderous attempt on his life was made at Hanoi by gunmen in the pay of Chungking. Mr. Wang escaped, but Dr. Tseng Chung-ming, his chief-secretary and tone of his' closest associates, was killed and others seriously wounded. Yet there are still some who believe that Mr, Wang. was actuated by self-seeking motives. His sincerity, how-fever, has never been questioned by competent observers. As Mr. Woodhead says, "He could long ago have retired with a fabulous fortune, approaching those attributed to certain members of the Chungking regime, had money been his object."
Oulside the Government Mr. Wang has striven to bring about that peace by negotiation which he advocated within It, Tt is true that he fs, there-. {fore, pursuing a policy opposed to that of General Chiang, but It is important to realize that Mr. Wang's policy has been sanctioned by the Supreme National Defence Council in December, 1937, and subsequently by the Emergency Congress of the Kuomintang in April, 1998. Tt may be that some sections of the Chinese public disapprove his notions, but that does not make him a turngoat nor a traitor, for their disapproval is oftlier the result of ignorance fostered by the Clfungking propaganda oF because of their vested Interests In the war, which peace would put an end to. The common masses. the legitimate businessmen. the hundreds of millions of deserted people are all in favour of peace—is the subsidized press, the war con~ tractors, the society "and charity workers brought Into social pro minence and fluence by the war, fand those who wish to see China per= manently crippled, who are in favour of continuing the' fruitless and in-
'Now after: twelve months of un-omitting toll, during which his life has been In' constant danger, Mr. Wang has reached an agreement with apan, whereby peace can be restored. and the evacuation of the Japanese troops secured on terms which do not impair. China's independence and sovereignty, which broadly speaking fort from some minor conces-he regularization of the status quo ante. Chungking censes Mr, Wang of handing over China to Japan; in reality, he is only recovering from Japan what has been Tost to Japan by Genera) Chiang. 'There fs no chance of recovering any territory by. force of arms, there is every danger of yet further Fortions and national assets being lost With' a prolongation of the war. Once, however, the New Government ieestablshed the four and Svo-lierre down, and once gain the national flag will fy over inner Mongolia and North Chit "All the resources of those areas are now in Japanese hands to be exploited as Jong as hostilities persist by Japan' for Japan, After the New Government {s established they will In gen-feral revert to China either uncondi-Hlonally or for exploitation for mutual benefit on the basis of equality with full regard to China's national independence and soverelmty.
Mr, Wang is accused of handing China over to Japan under the guise of Sino-Japanese ce-operation, but for what? Merely, according to his accusers, to become the head of a Chinese' regime which, if this were true, could never hope to evmmand the support of the Chinese people. Does this sound reasonable? it is suggested that Mr. Wang, the doyen of the Chinese revolutionary mov ment, the staunchest exponent of Chinese nationalism, whose independence of character Is famous, is now willing! to be the servant of the Japanese. The suggestion is on its very face absurd, Naturally certain concessions have had to be made to the Japanese view point, but there are ihe realities of the situation to be considered. Japan, after all, is in a position to ask. for "something" in exchange for returning the lost territory, and other national. assets China's control. How little that "something" as stated in the Konoye Declaration appears to some Japanese people is revealed by Mr. Saito's Speech in the Japanese Diet. And yet to the Japanese people as a whole, the Konoye Declaration has become: politically sacred.
There is nothing in Mr. Wang's record or in his public pronouncements. to suggest that he is in sny way willing to become a Japanese puppet. Sino-Japanese ce-operation will have to be worked out, as long as he has any voice In the matter, on lines that will involve no suspicion of Japanese domination or monopolistic control! He" would certainly' cease to €0- such attempt at domination, with the} consequent wrecking of a scheme in the success of which Japan is as interested as China. The Japanese will} have to keep faith wilh Mr. Wang and fall in with his views once the New Government is established.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.