File No. 861.77/501
The Chargé in China ( MacMurray ) to the Secretary of State
[Received 7.50 p.m.]
The following is the substance of the reply made by the Chinese Government which however requests that it should be treated as confidential:
As Chinese troops are using the Chinese Eastern Railway in cooperation with forces of the Allied Governments in opposing the enemy, the Chinese Government must naturally express its consent to the proposal.
In communicating this to me the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs stated that his Government not only consented but heartily welcomed the presence of American troops in the railway zone although it feared that any expression of that sort might be resented by Japan.
It is perhaps significant that he asked me whether the proposed transfer of our troops was known to and approved by the Japanese general understood to be in command of all the Allied forces at Vladivostok—to which I of course replied that I did not know.