893.24/1236: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in China (Gauss)69
336. Your 543, December 29, noon. Please convey immediately to General Chiang Kai-shek a message from the President along lines as follows:
The President has given his personal attention to reports of the recent incident involving the question of disposal to the British authorities in Burma of Lend-Lease materials consigned to China and awaiting onward shipment in Burma to their destination. The President wishes to assure General Chiang Kai-shek that the action taken was contrary to the policy of the Government of the United States which is directed toward furnishing all possible aid to China. The [Page 773] President wishes to give General Chiang Kai-shek further assurances that it is not the policy of the Government of the United States to transfer material consigned to China under the Lend-Lease program except upon the basis of prior conference and consultation with the Chinese Government. In sending General Chiang these assurances, the President desires at the same time to express his deep appreciation of the statesmanlike and unselfish attitude of the Generalissimo in agreeing, in the interests of the common cause to which all of us are dedicated, to the release to the British in Burma of certain items apparently much needed for defense in that area.
- Notation by President Roosevelt: “OK FDR”.↩