840.50/666
The Ambassador in China (Gauss) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 10.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to my despatch No. 560 of August 48 and to previous despatches on the subject of post war problems, and to enclose a translation of an article9 written by Dr. Chu Ko-ching, President of National Chekiang University, which appeared in the Central Weekly, a Kuomintang controlled publication, and in the National Herald, a daily English language newspaper understood to be an organ of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
Dr. Chu traces the historical relations between China and Indo-China and points out the importance of the latter to China as an outlet to the sea for southwest China, as an area for mutually beneficial trade relations, and as a defensive outpost. He states that, at the future peace conference China should ask that French Indo-China be given independence, and if the latter should be deemed unprepared for self government, China should offer to become its mandatory nation. He concludes with the statement that China cannot let Indo-China fall into the hands of aggressive Japan nor permit it to lapse into the hands of the French Indo-China government whose surrender to Japan without a determined struggle in the autumn of 1940 sealed the fate of Singapore and Burma.
It may be recalled that, in several despatches reporting conversations between the Counselor of Embassy and Chinese officials regarding post war problems, mention has been made of the Chinese attitude toward French Indo-China. Without doubt the Chinese have a very positive interest in the future status of Indo-China. Dr. Wang Chung-hui, chief of an official Chinese organization devoting itself to study of post war problems, has shown such an interest as has also Dr. Tsiang Ting-fu, an influential official of the Executive Yuan.
In a recent press conference, answering a correspondent’s question as to whether, in the light of developments in India, he did not feel that those who demand a Pacific Charter were right, Dr. Tsiang, as government spokesman, said that the principles behind the Atlantic Charter were not restricted in application to the Atlantic area alone “but many here feel that a special Pacific Charter—an allied statement on Pacific problems—will be very helpful. However, the Atlantic and Pacific charters must be harmonious in principle, although specific problems may be handled differently because these individual problems are different in nature”. Asked what he thought the Pacific [Page 739] Charter should specifically contain, the spokesman said that such a declaration should recognize the aspirations of certain Pacific countries such as Korea, the Philippines, India, Burma and China. Asked whether French Indo-China would be included, Dr. Tsiang said that Indo-China “was in a slightly different category. I don’t know how we will deal with it, because France has a special position. [”]
Respectfully yours,