845C.7793/10: Telegram
The Ambassador in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 26—9:40 a.m.]
115. 1. The Embassy on March 19 issued a visa to C. Y. Tu, Director General and Chief Engineer of the Yunnan–Burma Railway, for the journey to the United States. Mr. Tu is scheduled to leave Hong Kong today via clipper for Honolulu whence he will travel by ship. According to the Vice Minister for Communications, Mr. Tu is bearing plans and specifications for the Yunnan–Burma Railway and is to contact T. V. Soong immediately on arrival in the United States with a view to an approach to the American Government for funds to assist in construction of the railway. The Vice Minister has informed the Embassy that the Chinese Government desires to construct the railway as soon as possible even though it is estimated that 2 years will be required to complete it for the Burma highway is held to be inadequate for China’s transport requirements.
2. The Chinese Counselor of the British Embassy yesterday confirmed reports that the British Government will on the other hand commence construction on the extension of the Burma railway from Lashio to the Yunnan border. He said that the Chinese Government had insisted on extension of the railway and that agreement had been given as a gesture of good will notwithstanding the difficulties of construction, a conviction that the line will prove to be an economic liability and will not be completed in time to be of use to China during the present conflict, and the difficulty of obtaining rails. Informant [Page 617] said that in return for British agreement to extend railway China had consented to delimitation of Yunnan-Burma border in the area where the railroad is to cross the frontier although the boundary remains unfixed between northern Burma and China. He estimated that cost of construction of Burma extension would amount to 2³⁄₄ million pounds23 and would take about 2 years to build.
- Marginal notation by Raymond C. Mackay, Assistant Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs: “Up three quarters of a million pounds from previous estimate.”↩