893.00/14050: Telegram
The Ambassador in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 8—3:04 p.m.]
107. My 103, March 3, 3 p.m.
1. Wang Chung Hui this morning took office as Minister for Foreign Affairs. Both Hsu Mo and (contrary to press predictions) Chen Chieh are remaining as political and administrative Vice Ministers respectively and there are no changes in departmental heads except that the vacant Directorship of the General Affairs Department of Labor [not yet?] filled.
2. The new Foreign Minister will issue a statement on foreign policy this afternoon at 5 o’clock, the following being the text as obtained confidentially in advance from the Foreign Office.
3.
“With their interests closely intertwined, nations in this modern world are living in far greater interdependence than ever before. It [Page 36] is only through mutual cooperation that world prosperity could be attained and international peace assured.
“Since international cooperation, in the last analysis, depends on friendly feelings between peoples, it is of the greatest importance that anything which may militate against such friendly feelings should be removed or prevented. For all forms of international cooperation presumptive [presuppose] a desire on the part of the peoples concerned to work together for mutual benefit, and such desire is born when a spirit of goodwill and cordiality exists between them. Only in this way will any effort for international cooperation be crowned with success.
“The foreign policy of China has, on various occasions, been clearly stated by the Government and by the President of the Executive Yuan, General Chiang Kai-shek. Its fundamental principles are the maintenance of the integrity of China’s territory and sovereign rights and the conduct of international relations on the basis of equality and reciprocity. Under the guidance of these principles, all possible efforts will be made in an atmosphere of peace to further international comity and friendship. Political understandings and economic cooperation, if they are to serve as means of consolidating regulations [relations] between nations, must be based on the principles of mutual benefit. Such has been the fixed policy of the Chinese Government, which is in harmony with national diplomacy.
“In accepting the portfolio of foreign affairs, I am fully conscious of the heavy responsibility that is attached to it. Guided by the fixed policy of the government and the principles of international justice, I shall endeavor, in strict accordance with diplomatic usage, to secure the realization of the aspirations of the Chinese Government and the development through international cooperation of the relations between China and foreign powers to the benefit of all concerned.”
4. Sent to the Department; by mail to Peiping and Tokyo.