840.50/854: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in China (Gauss)
1189. Your 1386, November 24, 2 p.m. Chinese Embassy has been advised of the Foreign Minister’s views. With respect to his suggestion concerning paragraph 2 of Article IV, we pointed out that the sentence “in arranging for the procurement, transportation and distribution of supplies and services he and his representatives shall consult and collaborate with the appropriate authorities of the United Nations and shall wherever practicable use the facilities made available by such authorities” had been drafted with a view to the wide variety of circumstances which might be encountered in different areas. In the case of China we assumed that the Director General would operate only with the full approval of the Chinese Government. In other areas there might be considerable question as to what government, if any, was in control of the area and in such cases the “appropriate authorities” might be the commanders of the reoccupying forces. For this reason we consider it inadvisable for the draft to be more specific on this point.
We have been given informally to understand that the British Government accepts the proposal in principle. We have had further discussions with the Soviet Government and anticipate an early expression of its views.