Memorandum: Minister-Counselor of Embassy in China (Clark) to the Director of the Office of Far Eastern Affairs (Butterworth)

Date: Nov. 8, 1948, Nanking

Subject: Chinese Nationalist Government

備忘錄： 駐華大使館公使銜參贊（Clark）致遠東事務辦公室主任（Butterworth）

日期： 1948年11月08日，南京

主題： 中國國民政府

Within the past few weeks, the Government's military power and economic position have so deteriorated that we seriously question its ability to survive for long. There is just no will to fight in Nationalist Government armies and in high official circles there is only befuddlement . . . .

Precisely when and exactly how the present Government will go is impossible to foretell. There are so many imponderables involved that no firm prediction can be made.

在過去幾週內，政府的軍事實力和經濟狀況已經惡化到我們嚴重質疑它能否長期生存的地步。 國民政府的軍隊就是沒有鬥志，官場只有糊塗。 . . .

準確地說，本屆政府將在什麼時候和以什麼方式離開，是無法預料的。 所涉及的因素太多，所以無法做出確切的預測。

[ source: United States Department of State / Foreign relations of the United States, 1948. The Far East: China Volume VII (1948), page 552 ]

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