Sugar-Coated Poison

The Gimo had all but yielded to repeated pleas for his resignation and a peace bid to the Communists. How could Chiang Kai-shek hold out when his Northwest commander, Chang Chih-chung, had counseled another effort to negotiate? When the commander of the armies defending Nanking, sturdy Pai Chung-hsi, had wired him to step aside? Even his sworn brother, ex-Premier Chang Chun, had urged him to "retire into the clouds" and let others less disagreeable to the enemy make overtures for peace. Vice President Li Tsung-jen was ready to propose a cease-fire and immediate peace talks.

"After All I Have Done!" Then came the Communist war-criminal broadcast--a sweeping condemnation of the entire Nationalist leadership (TIME, Jan. 3). Angrily the Gimo cried: "After all I have done for China, to be called a criminal! How can we talk with such people?" Vice President Li's name was also on the Red blacklist, but Li took a less personal view of China's crisis; he was still willing to negotiate. Other Kuomintang leaders stood with Chiang. The newspaper Ta Rang Pao railed against "peace politicians who let themselves be mouthpieces for Stalin" and "peace rumors that sugar-coat a poison designed to crush the Chinese government."

For five days the debate raged. Governors and generals flew in from the hinterland to join in. On New Year's Eve, some 30 leaders gathered for an arm-waving, tear-shedding showdown in the Gimo's red brick residence. The fight-to-the-finish faction tried hard to delete words implying resignation from Chiang's New Year's message. They won out on two points: conditions for peace which the Communists could scarcely be expected to accept, and a delay in the Gimo's abdication.

"If a negotiated peace is not detrimental to the national independence and sovereignty," Chiang's message read, "if the constitution is not violated . . . the entity of the armed forces is safeguarded and the people's free mode of living . . . is protected, then I shall be satisfied . . . As long as peace can be realized, I am not concerned whether I step out or stay on . . ."

"War of Self-Defense." Having stated his terms, and offered, for the record, to step down in the wildly improbable event that they were accepted, Chiang returned to a more familiar line: "I firmly believe," he insisted, "that the government will win out in the end . . . The people of the nation should realize that only by carrying on this war of self-defense can a real peace be secured."

In spite of Chiang's tough talk, it looked last week as if the Nanking government might be willing to make a deal. Through Nanking's chanceries swept a rumor that the U.S. and Russian embassies would be asked to step in as joint mediators. Aside from the building of defense works along the Yangtze, military operations were at a standstill.

If some sort of an interim government could be patched up, Vice President Li would probably take over the presidency. The Gimo might retire to Formosa. Last week, as though in readiness, his trusted former chief of staff, General Chen Cheng became governor of the island. Chiang's elder son, Ching-kuo, became the Kuomintang provincial chairman in Formosa.

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