701.9311/821
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Acting Secretary of State
Dr. T. V. Soong, Chinese Minister for Foreign Affairs, called to see me today to say goodby. The Minister said he would attend the Conference of the Party Executive Committee to be held in Chungking next month and that he would probably remain in China during the month of December in order to get thoroughly in touch with all developments in his own country, and that he would then return to Washington in January.
The Minister spoke with the greatest enthusiasm regarding the announcements of this Government covering the relinquishment of extraterritorial rights by the United States in China. He said that nothing had given greater satisfaction to Chiang Kai-shek, and that the latter had an almost sentimental feeling with regard to this issue inasmuch as it was one of the points specifically mentioned in the last will of Sun Yat-sen. He said that he would have liked to remain in Washington to sign the first treaty himself, but that on account of the date fixed for the holding of the party assembly and the difficulty of transportation facilities, he did not feel warranted in postponing his departure.