893.77/3360: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in China ( Atcheson )
1230. General Bethouart, of the French Committee of National Liberation, called at the Department and requested that the Department, through its Embassy at Chungking, exert its influence in support of the effort being made by the representative of the French Committee at Chungking to obtain from the Chinese Government clarification of that Government’s intentions with respect to the Yunnan section of the French Indochina–Yunnan Railway over which Chinese authorities have recently assumed control. The Committee is desirous of obtaining from the Chinese some indication or admission that Chinese assumption of control over the Railway is a temporary emergency measure related to prosecution of the war, that French interests in the Railway will be respected and protected, and that the post-war status of the Railway will be subject of discussion between the Chinese Government and the Government of France to be established.
The Department suggests that you consult with the head of the French Committee in Chungking to ascertain the character of the Chinese Government’s response to any approach he may have made; and that, if the response of the Chinese Government was not of a nature so flatly negative as to preclude any apparent usefulness in pursuing the matter, you choose a suitable opportunity, preferably incidental to the discussion of other matters, to inquire of the Foreign Office in regard to the French Indochina–Yunnan Railway. You should limit yourself to an expression of interest and not make any direct request for clarification in support of the French approach. It is hoped that your expression of interest may in some measure result in exerting the influence which the French desire in support of their approach.