893.24/1476a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in China (Gauss)31
1255. 1. Mr. Currie on behalf of the Lend-Lease Administration has informed the Department that a member of the British supply organization in Washington has stated that the British and Soviet Governments have concluded an agreement by which (a) the Soviet Government is to deliver to the Chinese Government monthly 2,000 tons of American Lend-Lease supplies to be moved into China by trucks over the northwest route and (b) the Soviet Government is in addition to supply monthly to the Chinese Government 600 tons of petroleum products for transportation by truck of the foregoing 2,000 tons over the northwest route. The British official referred to also stated that successful operation of the agreement was dependent upon the United States supplying a large number of trucks to China under Lend-Lease. Representatives of China Defense Supplies have informally raised the question of shipping to Karachi a large number of trucks in order to carry out the foregoing arrangement.
2. The Department assumes that the foregoing relates to the proposed route for sending Lend-Lease supplies to China by way of Karachi, Baluchistan, Iran, the Soviet Union and Sinkiang by succeeding rail and truck routes. The Department has understood that the proposed agreement between the British and Russians relating to this route included terms of the kind set forth in the preceding paragraph and a further provision that of the supplies entering the Soviet Union from Iran over this route sixty percent would be destined for China and forty percent would be retained by the Soviet Union. However, the Department’s information has heretofore indicated that the agreement was contingent upon Chinese ability to supply the Russians with 2,000 tons a month of supplies produced in China and that the Chinese have been and are likely to continue to be unable to supply such an amount.
3. The Department requests that, unless you perceive objection, you inquire of the Chinese Government whether the agreement mentioned in paragraph (1) has been communicated to the Chinese Government and whether the Chinese have reached agreement with the Russians on the matter of providing Chinese supplies to Russia. If any such agreement has been reached between the Chinese and the Russians the Department would like to be informed as to pertinent details.
[Page 620]4. We have instructed our Embassy at Kuibyshev to ascertain officially from the Soviet Government whether or not the agreement mentioned in paragraph (1) has been concluded and, if it has, to ask for the terms of the agreement. We are also instructing the Embassy to make inquiry as to whether agreement has been reached between the Chinese and the Russians with respect to the provision of Chinese supplies to Russia. We are making similar inquiries of the British Embassy here.
- Similar telegram sent to the Ambassador in the Soviet Union as No. 647, same date.↩