124.936/362: Telegram
The Ambassador in China (Gauss) to the Secretary of State
[Received 1:55 p.m.]
308. For the Acting Secretary. The messages communicated by the Department’s Nos. 158 and 159 of July 2232 are undecipherable in our codes and have been delivered to the addresses in their code texts as received.
With the utmost respect but in all earnestness I submit that no Ambassador to China can function intelligently and efficiently under present conditions without some background on what is transpiring through other than the usual diplomatic channels. For example, we are in almost complete ignorance of what is being done by way of aid to China under the Lend-Lease Act and we have no information regarding the provisions of the currency stabilization loan agreement.
I feel that whatever the channels considered as best suited to be employed under existing conditions in China, the Ambassador, if he has the full confidence of his government, and should have a substantial background on what is transpiring through other than the usual diplomatic channels, and I am personally of the opinion that coordinated and effective American representation in China calls for the use, to the fullest extent practicable, of normal diplomatic channels of communication.
- Not found in Department files.↩