Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1945, The Far East, China, Volume VII

102.78/8–1345: Telegram

The Ambassador in China (Hurley) to the Secretary of State

Chungking, August 13, 1945—8 a.m.
[Received 9 a.m.]

1338. For Wheeler,²⁸ Agriculture, from Dawson. Have just had conference with officials in Ministry of Agriculture and one higher official, and it was decided to prepare a formal request for technical collaboration as soon as possible after new Minister of Agriculture and Forestry comes into office, probably in about 2 weeks. Method of presenting it will probably be through our Embassy.

Points suggested so far include:

1. American mission of six or more specialists in following fields.

a. General agricultural research; Auchter’s²⁹ name suggested.

b. Agricultural economics and planning. These two men considered very important for general advice in initiation program and would be of great service if for only 3 or 4 months.

c. Technical fields of tung oil, carpet wool, tea and silk.

d. Cotton textile processing and fisheries, if you consider these in line with objectives.

2. Difficult for Chinese Government comply with paragraph 8.³⁰ Sie³¹ and Tsou³² suggested agreement, therefore assistance needed in equipping and reestablishing the central research station and a few substations specializing on key products.³³

3. Mission to come as soon as possible owing ability work soon in regions formerly occupied.

4. Amounts stated Sie draft form agreement seem conservative for substantial aid in initiating program. Suggest proportionally more funds be set aside first 2 or 3 years for aid in starting and equipping stations, training key personnel, et cetera.

5. More specialists to follow, and some [Chinese] sent to America for training as suggested after some study of first mission.

In my opinion this program has great possibilities if substantially supported on above lines. [Dawson.]

Hurley

28. Leslie A. Wheeler, Director, Office of Foreign Agricultural Relations, Department of Agriculture.
29. Probably E. C. Auchter, Administrator of Agricultural Research, Department of Agriculture.
30. Reference to draft agreement of April 25, not printed.
31. Probably K. S. Sie (Hsieh Chia-sheng), Director, Chinese National Agricultural Research Bureau.
32. Probably Y. T. Tsur (Chou, Yi-chun), Chinese Minister of Agriculture and Forestry.
33. This section is badly garbled. A correct reading would seem to be: “Difficult for Chinese Government to compile paragraph 8. Sie and Tsur suggest agreement for assistance needed in equipping and reestablishing the central research station and a few sub-stations specializing on key products.”