793.94/6353: Telegram
The Minister in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 3—3:18 a.m.]
499. My telegram No. 497, June 2, 5 p.m. I called upon Huang Fu this morning. He stated that recent discussions had been limited entirely to military questions; that problem now before them was to find means of reestablishing Chinese authority in the evacuated area. With reference to Li Chi-chun, he stated that he was a native of Fengjun; that he had five or six thousand soldiers. Huang Fu said that he formerly knew Li. It is his hope that Li and his forces, after the elimination of disorderly elements, can be amalgamated with Chinese forces and moved elsewhere. As regards railway between [Page 355] Lutai and Shanhaikwan, Huang Fu stated that it was his expectation that the Chinese would take over railway but that preliminary thereto it was necessary for the authorities of Peiping-Mukden line and the authorities of South Manchuria Railway to liquidate certain expenses to which the South Manchuria Railway had been put because of necessary repairs; it was believed also that South Manchuria Railway may have made payments to the British bondholders for recovering section of line occupied and that this item would have to be liquidated.
Huang Fu expressed the hope that the United States authorities would appreciate difficult situation which China faced here in the North.