- 15-
China of the future. Even were China not torn and
divided by civil strife, however, considerable practical
difficulties would lic in the way of the implementation
of such an instrument at the present time. Not least
among them is the absence of any basis, among pcoplc
eighty per cent of whom are illiterate and devoid of
political consciousness, for the exercise of the right
of universal suffrage provided for in the Constitution.
For detailed comment on the Constitution see separate
section headed "The Chinose system of Government".
10. The rift between the Kuomintang and the
Comunists has grown wider during 1947, and it is now
accepted that there is no chance of a reconciliation.
General Marshall summed up the position vory accurately
in his statement of January 7th on the occasion of his
departure from China after spending one year in that
country trying to bring the two parties together in the
formation of a coalition government. He declared on that
occasion that the greatest obstacle to peace was the
complete, almost overwhelming, suspicion with which the
Chinese Communist Party and the Kuomintang regard each
other. General Marshall also condermed the actions of
the extremists on both sides in blocking attempts at
reaching a compromise.
11. Despite Communist refusal to co-oporate, Chiang
Kai-shek continued during 1947 his efforts to broaden
the basis of the National Government in implementation
of the resolutions of the Political Consultative
Conference of January, 1946 (see paragraph 4 above).
April, 1947 a State Council was set up with a membership
of 29, including 17 members of the Kuomintang, 4 members
In
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