893.0146/723
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Adviser on Political Relations (Hornbeck)
The French Ambassador called this afternoon and began the conversation with an inquiry: he supposed that I had seen the aide-mémoire which he had given the Secretary of State57 on the subject of the armed forces in China; was I in position to tell him what was our reaction. He said that he understood that the British Embassy had given us an aide-mémoire58 similar to that given by his Embassy.
I replied that I had seen both aide-mémoire, that this Government’s reply was ready, and that I was authorized to hand him an aide-mémoire59 in reply to his aide-mémoire.
While the Ambassador was reading our aide-mémoire, I pointed out that the substance of our reply was that this Government does not expect to withdraw its forces from the points in China at which they are now stationed. I said that this statement of our position was in terms of expectation, that it represents a position taken in the light of existing circumstances, and that it does not constitute a commitment but will be subject to review from time to time as the situation develops. The Ambassador ejaculated that he well understood that we could not and would not make a commitment; he said that he had told his Government just that and that he had advised against their asking us to do anything of that sort. He indicated that he regarded the contents of our aide-mémoire as an adequate and satisfactory reply. In fact, he seemed greatly pleased with our statement that we do not expect to withdraw our forces from the points where they [Page 267] now are. He said that his Government does not want to make withdrawals, but that the British Government inclines toward withdrawal, and that both the French and the British Governments are presented with difficult problems. I commented only to the effect that we well realize that such is the case, and I added the observation that practically all governments and peoples are today confronted with problems of extraordinary difficulty.
There followed a brief discussion of summer holidays and the present tense situation in Europe.