Editorial Note
No official American record of the substance of this conversation has been found and apparently none was prepared. In response to an inquiry from the editors in 1956, the Chinese Ambassador at Washington (Dr. Hollington Tong) ascertained that the Chinese Government had in its files a summary record of this conversation in the Chinese language. The Chinese Government kindly prepared an English translation and granted permission for its publication in this volume (023.1/5/21/57). In view of the paucity of authoritative information respecting the Roosevelt–Chiang discussions at Cairo, the Chinese memorandum is reproduced below.
The information set forth above respecting the meeting and the participants is taken from the Chinese record of the conversation. [Page 323] The Log (ante, p. 296) indicates that the Chiangs, together with Hopkins and Colonel Elliott Roosevelt, were dinner guests of the President. Elliott Roosevelt (pp. 142, 164–165) reproduces some of his father’s remarks that pertain presumably to this discussion, but there is no indication that Colonel Roosevelt was present at either the dinner or the discussion that followed. The Log does not mention the attendance of Dr. Wang.
According to the account in Elliott Roosevelt, the conversation touched on the following topics that are not mentioned in the Chinese summary record: The formation of a coalition government in China, British rights in Shanghai and Canton, the use of American rather than British warships in future operations based on Chinese ports, and the future status of the Malay States, Burma, and India.
For references to other subjects which were discussed by Roosevelt and Chiang at Cairo and which may have been discussed in whole or in part at this meeting, see the editorial note, post, p. 366.