893.51/7461
The Secretary of State to President Roosevelt
Dear Mr. President: I refer to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek’s request for an immediate credit to China of $500,000,000 to assist him in China’s prosecution of the war.72
China is now in her fifth year of war against aggression and has had to draw very heavily upon her own resources. Certain loans have been made to China through the Federal Loan Agency, mostly in connection with the purchase of strategic materials. These loans have been used to buy supplies in this country, but China now needs cash to be used within, or from within, its own borders, and I strongly recommend that you ask Congress to authorize loans, or credits, or both, to China up to $500,000,000. The brilliant resistance to aggression which the Chinese have made and are making, and their contribution to the common cause, deserve the fullest support we can give.
Sincerely yours,
- See Minutes of a Meeting in the Office of the Secretary of State, January 30, 1942, Department of State, United States Relations With China, p. 478.↩