k*****r
发帖数: 21039 | 1 "Chiang Kai-shek and the Madame and their families, the Soong family and the
Kungs were all thieves... They stole seven hundred and fifty million
dollars out of the thirty-five billion we sent ... and invested in real
estate ... And I don't want anything to do with people like that." | f*******5
发帖数: 1815 | 2 In her book, Tuchman paints a picture of Mme. Chiang as a manipulative woman
, setting everything and everybody in motion for the sake of her own benefit
and enrichment. And all this, of course, was much to the chagrin of the
American leadership. How could she get away with this? Because she knew that
the Americans needed China as a strategic stronghold and as a base of
operations in the war against Japan, and at no matter what cost. So whenever
Mme. Chiang needed something done, she simply threatened to take China out
of the war.
Despite the fact that on 9 February 1942, General "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell had
heard Roosevelt say that "... he did not want Mme. Chiang to come on a
visit," Mme. Chiang visited the U.S. from November 1942 until May 1943. Part
of that time, she stayed at the White House and angered its staff "by
clapping in her hands for their attention, although all the rooms in the
White House were equipped with bells and telephones."
According to Tuchman "Madame's behavior did not suggest a leader who was
guiding her country toward a democratic future." She quotes U.S. Secretary
of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau as telling his staff: "The President ... is
just crazy to get her out of the country." There is an abundance of stories
in the book about Mme. Chiang's way of enriching herself and her family.
She and her sister Ei-ling were reported to have manipulated Government
bonds and to have raked in huge profits from speculation in silver in the
course of currency measures put through by Dr. H.H. Kung - Ei-ling's husband.
Nelson T. Johnson -- American Ambassador to China from 1935 on -- stated
that Dr. Kung and his brother-in-law T.V. Soong could not give "unbiased
consideration" to China's problems because of their various personal
financial interests. While her husband was Minister of Finance, Ei-ling was
also "credited with receiving a moderate but invariable commission on all
purchases of military planes." This pattern of corrupt behavior led
President Truman to angrily state a few years later that: "They are all
thieves, every damn one of them!" The Soongs and Chiangs amassed one of the
world's largest fortunes at a time when millions of Chinese died from
starvation and from the bitter civil war against Mao.
According to Tuchman, Kuomintang officials were proud of their diplomatic
skill in playing on American nerves; they maintained contact with Japanese
in Shanghai "in order to excite fears in Washington." Mme. Chiang went as
far as launching a campaign to have General Stilwell recalled back to
Washington from the Chinese theater. Part of the reason why Mme. Chiang had
started this campaign was that "he signed memoranda as "Lieutenant General-
USA" instead of "Chief of Staff to the Generalissimo."
Roosevelt had predicted that "no other country was so likely to be the
source of postwar trouble." He proved to be right, because in December of
the very next year, Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang Government, accompanied by
one million soldiers, were forced to flee to Taiwan. As Tuchman writes: "
Born in the revolution of 1911, the Kuomintang had spent its mandate in one
generation."
In spite of the repression imposed on Taiwan by the Kuomintang of Mme.
Chiang and her husband, the people of the island were able to turn the tide
and during the past decade move towards a democratic political system. But
on the island, Madame Chiang continues to be seen as the embodiment and the
symbol of repression and corruption during the post World War II period. |
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