893.51/6779
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs (Hamilton)
| Participants: | Dr. Chang-Lok Chen,40 |
| Mr. Tswen-ling Tsui, of the Chinese Embassy,41 | |
| Mr. Hamilton, | |
| Mr. Adams.42 |
Dr. Chen referred to the text, which had been left at the Department, of a statement to be issued by the President of the Executive Yuan on January 16, 1939,43 in regard to the servicing of obligations secured on the revenues of the Chinese Government pledged for debt service. He said that he and Mr. Tsui had been instructed to place informally before the Department of State three points in regard to the statement:
- 1.
- That the Chinese Government regretted that it could not sooner make known to the American authorities the decision of the Chinese Government as contained in the statement under reference; that the decision had been reached only on Saturday.
- 2.
- That a formal written communication in regard to the matter would be sent to the American Government in due course either through the American Embassy in China or through the Chinese Embassy in Washington.
- 3.
- That the statement referred to is not applicable to short-term obligations such as the American cotton and wheat credits of 1931 and 1933; that the servicing of these obligations will be continued.
Mr. Tsui said, in reply to a question, that he did not know whether the statement under reference would apply to the Boxer Indemnity payments.
Mr. Hamilton thanked Dr. Chen and Mr. Tsui for coming over to the Department, particularly during such bad weather.
N. B. On January 17 Mr. Tsui telephoned to Mr. Adams and said that, according to a telegraphic instruction just received, the Chinese Ministry for Foreign Affairs had communicated Dr. Kung’s statement to the American Embassy, Chungking.