893.24/1439: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Standley) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 23—11:55 a.m.]
369. At the Airport just before my departure from Kuibyshev day before yesterday the Chinese Ambassador informed me that the Soviet authorities had told him that they had agreed in principle to permit the Soviet railway system to be utilized for the shipment of merchandise through the Soviet Union in transit to China. He said that they had indicated to him that a conference to discuss the details of such an arrangement would be necessary and that he had requested his government to designate the Chinese delegates to participate in this conference.
Henderson20 has informed me by telegraph from Kuibyshev that the Chinese Counselor has given him the following additional details concerning the progress of Soviet-Chinese economic discussions:
He repeated the Ambassador’s statement that the Soviet authorities had told him of their agreement in principle to an economic agreement whereby goods in transit to China could pass through the Soviet Union and of their willingness to enter into a formal agreement as soon as the technical details could be worked out between representatives of the two countries.
[Page 606]He stated that the agreement would provide that:
- 1.
- 19,000 tons of merchandise could be shipped annually through Krasnovodsk or Ashkhabad by rail to Alma Ata and then by motor to Hami.
- 2.
- The Chinese Government would undertake to deliver annually to the Soviet Union 4,000 tons of merchandise including tin, tungsten, silk, wool and tung oil.
- 3.
- The Soviet Government would furnish annually 4,000 tons of gasoline and 1,000 tons of lubricating oil for maintaining the truck engaged in transporting the merchandise in both directions.
The Counselor said that it appeared probable that the technical discussions will begin in the near future in Moscow between the Chinese representatives and Mikoyan.21 The date and place of the discussion have not yet, however, been definitely determined.
In a conversation which I had with him immediately after my arrival in Moscow the British Ambassador told me that he had also been informed by the Soviet Government that such an understanding had been reached between it and the Chinese.