Secession Threat

It was a week of Nationalist victories in China's civil war. Government forces pressed the Communists hard on nearly all fronts, were rapidly driving a wedge between Yenan and Kalgan, the key Communist bases. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's forces also opened an all-out drive to recapture North China's vital communications network, had already regained control of the important Peiping-Cheng-teh railroad through the seizure of Kupehkow, strategic Great Wall pass.

The military situation was reflected in the attitude of the Communist negotiators in Nanking. The Communists refused to participate in a five-man committee to discuss a coalition Government (i.e., a national council). Instead they suddenly proposed to discuss a cease-fire order through a three-man committee set up last January, dormant since June and now composed of General George Marshall, Communist Negotiator Chou En-lai and the National Government's General Hsu Yung-chang. By cease-fire the Communists meant the return to Communist control of all territory won by the Government in the past six weeks. They flatly declared that if the fighting were not stopped, and the Government persisted in its "unilateral" plans for a National Assembly in November, they would call a "People's Assembly in Liberated Areas" to draft their own constitution. In effect, this meant that the Communists would set up an independent government.

Two Newcomers. Not Chou En-lai but two lesser Communists, Wang Ping-nan and Liao" Cheng-chi, publicly made the secession threat. Both came some months ago from Chungking to Nanking, where they have been relatively obscure members of the Communist delegation. Wang is solemn, homely, rather likable. He is direct, clipped in speech, and generally uses an interpreter though he understands English well. His wife is a Polish Communist, who is said to have strong influence over him. Liao also speaks excellent English, out of the corner of his mouth. The emergence of Wang and Liao, like the emergence of Li Lisan (TIME, Sept. 9) suggests that changes are occurring in the Yenan hierarchy.

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