 When Vincent and other China Hands including John Service accompanied Vice-President Henry A. Wallace on a state visit to the Soviet Union and Chongqing in June 1944, he helped to persuade Chiang to finally grant permission for the Dixie Mission, which opened contact with the Communist base areas.According to the New York Times, The China experts, traveling through the areas controlled by various warlords, reported that Chiang's Nationalist Party, the Kuomintang, was dragging its feet, reserving its American-supplied arms for an eventual showdown with the Communists.The old China hands predicted that in such a fight, the Communists would win.