893.102 Tientsin/575
The Chinese Embassy to the Department of State
Formula for the Solution of the Silver Question in North China
The following formula for the solution of the silver question in North China has been tentatively agreed upon between the Chinese Government and the British Ambassador on the understanding that the British Government guarantee that no further difficulties in this matter will arise from any quarter:
- (1)
- An amount of silver equivalent to 100,000 pounds is to be sold at world market rate for sterling which shall be entrusted to the International China Famine Relief Commission and used exclusively for North China relief. The Commission is to sell all sterling for Fapi (Chinese legal tender) at the official rate of 1 shilling 2¼ pence only to the Chinese banks who are owners of the silver.
- (2)
- The balance of the silver is to be deposited in the name of the Chinese banks concerned with a neutral bank (preferably the National City Bank of New York which is the only neutral bank with room in vaults sufficient for the silver in question) for safekeeping until the end of the hostilities.
Washington
, January 29, 1940.