Foreign Relations of the United States, Diplomatic Papers, 1944, China, Volume VI

740.00118 PW/11–744

The Secretary of State to the Chinese Ambassador (Wei)

The Secretary of State presents his compliments to His Excellency the Chinese Ambassador and has the honor to refer to his communication of November 7, 1944³⁷ with reference to the desire of the Chinese Government to appoint an official to be attached to General MacArthur’s headquarters on the island of Leyte, or in other parts of the Philippine Islands, with the purpose of rendering aid to the large number of Chinese nationals residing there, and to state that the matter was referred to General MacArthur by the appropriate authorities of the Government and that he now advises that Major Generals H. L. Lin and Chih Wang of the Chinese Army are both attached to his headquarters as liaison officers and that either of these officers should be in a position to provide appropriate interim assistance to Chinese nationals in the Philippines until such time as Chinese consular functions may be re-established in the Islands. In connection with the re-establishment of the Chinese Consulate General, General MacArthur advises that the status of the Chinese Consul General should be in line with established State Department routine; that the time of re-establishment of the Chinese Consulate General should be determined by the theater commander; and that a Consular official should be sent only after the re-establishment of the United States Consular Service in the Philippines.³⁸ General MacArthur further advises that the Chinese official whom it is proposed to send to the Philippines to function on behalf of Chinese civilians should not be a military officer.

The War Department concurs in the views of General MacArthur as expressed in the foregoing paragraph.

Washington , December 13, 1944.

37. Not printed, but see letter of November 15 to the Secretary of War, p. 194.
38. In a note of March 6, 1945, the Acting Secretary of State informed the Chinese Ambassador that the Government of the United States was agreeable to the reopening of the Chinese Consulate General at Manila when the United States Consulate General was reopened, which was scheduled for March 15, 1945.