Office of the Historian

893.00/8–2145

Memorandum by the Director of the Office of Far Eastern Affairs (Ballantine)

[Washington,] August 28, 1945.

I telephoned Ambassador Wei Tao Ming and said that we think that in view of the publication of the text of the Sino-Soviet treaties58 there is no longer any need for the issuance of the proposed statement in regard to China and we propose, subject to their concurrence, to inform the British and Soviet Governments to that effect.

He said that he had been talking with Mr. Soong59 and he fully agrees that there is no longer any need for publication of the statement, especially as Mao Tze-tung, the Communist representative, has now returned to Chungking.

I also telephoned to Mr. Downey, Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy, and referred to his memorandum to Mr. Dunn of August 22,60 and told him of our decision. He said that he thought it very sensible and he felt sure that Secretary Forrestal60a would concur.

I also telephoned in the foregoing sense to Colonel Gerhard in the office of Assistant Secretary McCloy.61

J[oseph] W. B[allantine]
  1. Signed at Moscow, August 14, Department of State, United States Relations With China (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1949), p. 585.↩
  2. T. V. Soong, President of the Chinese Executive Yuan (Premier).↩
  3. Not printed.↩
  4. James Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy.↩
  5. Col. Harrison A. Gerhardt was Executive Officer in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of War (McCloy).↩