393.1163/183: Telegram
The Minister in China (MacMurray) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 26—8:40 p.m.]
758. 1. Rector of the American Catholic University of Peking has addressed me with reference to the attitude of the American Government toward the protection of property rights in China. He states that he is confronted with the contention that proved [sic] that property which the university has acquired or might acquire in the future may very likely be confiscated by the Chinese and that in this event the American Government would not intervene in any effective way and much less would it insist upon any adequate indemnification. He further states that as long as any suspicion exists that the American Government is no longer prepared to vindicate American property rights in China it will be difficult to persuade the American Benedictines to risk larger sums in developing work of the university.
2. Since the foregoing states a problem which will have to be faced generally by American mission organizations in China I shall be glad to have as definite a statement of the Department’s position with regard thereto as it may be feasible to make at the present time.