893.515/763: Telegram
The Ambassador in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
[Received 8 p.m.]
14. Mr. Arthur Young33 inquired of me last night as to what attitude the American Government would adopt toward the efforts of Leith-Ross to find some plan for financial assistance to China. (Young, himself, believes that China needs a small loan to begin with to enable them to stabilize their currency situation internally and abroad). I told Young that the United States Government was prepared to give sympathetic consideration to any proposal that might be worked out and that I would be prepared to submit to my Government any suggestions that they might care to give me. I said that I thought the American Government would be prepared to cooperate with the other powers in any feasible, workable scheme. I told Young that I thought the difficulty in all of this business was to be found in the apparent inability of the Chinese Government to reach a decision as to what it wished to do; that once the Chinese Government had made a definite decision in regard to its currency policy it would be easier for the governments concerned to consider that decision and decide upon measures to cooperate.
- American adviser to Chinese Ministry of Finance.↩