893.50A/40: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Straus) to the Acting Secretary of State
[Received July 18—4:52 p.m.]
329. Department’s 145, to London and Delegation’s July 17, 3 p.m., and July 17, midnight to Paris. First meeting of Special Committee Technical Collaboration with China took place this morning at League headquarters in Paris. I received informal communication from Avenol, Secretary-General of the League of Nations, to the effect that committee of Council dealing with technical collaboration with China had instructed him to invite Government of the United States to be represented on technical committee in any such way as it might deem appropriate. I replied informally by letter that our Government, glad of an opportunity to be informed of the work of the Committee in question, was happy to designate an unofficial observer to attend the meeting of the Committee today and that [Page 501] Marriner, Counselor of Embassy, would attend the meeting in question and report on the proceedings.
Marriner attended and took occasion to express his thanks for contemplated invitation to be present unofficially as an observer adding that as he was not aware of the agenda of the meeting in advance he would confine himself strictly to the role of an observer and would take pleasure in communicating to United States Government any action which the Special Committee might take or any decision it might reach in order that our Government might guide itself in the light of the information which the Committee was making available to it through his presence at the meeting. Otherwise, Marriner took no part and offered no observations during the session.
Meeting was brief and was confined to the purpose of stating the general lines on which the future work of the Committee in China was to be organized and to naming a technical liaison officer.
With regard to the first point considerable emphasis was laid on the fact that the guiding principle of this collaboration should be entirely technical, impartial, and nonpolitical, and that it should be administered on the broadest international basis.
L. Rajchman, a Pole and Director of the Health Section of the League of Nations with considerable past experience in China in connection with League health activities, was unanimously appointed as technical liaison officer.
Full report and documents by mail.18 Repeated to London.
- Not printed.↩