811.20 Defense (M)/190: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Chargé in France ( Murphy )
235. The text of your 210, July 3033 was communicated to the American Embassy at Chungking with instructions to take the matter up with the Chinese Government. Chungking now replies, dated August 6, as follows:
“In a letter dated August 5 Wong Wen confirms without qualifications that portions of the Selenga cargo in amounts given the Department’s first paragraph are part of cargo of 5940 tons of wolfram ore and 5670 tons of antimony sold to the American Government. He also states that article 8 of [the Sino-Soviet agreement]34 stipulates that all ores and metals supplied by the Chinese Government shall be delivered at the Soviet frontier; that although the ores were shipped on the Selenga for delivery at Vladivostok the Government [has] prevented this and since [they] did not reach the frontier title indubitably remains vested [in] the Chinese Government. Wong states that the Soviet trade representative [at] Chungking Bakou[lin] entirely agrees with the Chinese Government that the latter possesses [title to] the ores in question. The Chinese Government is trying through Ambassador Koo to clear up [the] misunderstanding of the Vichy Government and hopes for early release.”