893.00/1–2345: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in China ( Hurley )
124. In response to an inquiry at the press conference this afternoon regarding report that an agreement had been reached between [Page 182] the Communists and the Kuomintang, the Acting Secretary made the following statement:
“The Department has received no confirmation from our Embassy at Chungking of the report to which you refer of a Kuomintang–Communist agreement. It would be very gratifying to us to learn of the consummation of such an agreement. We earnestly desire the development of a strong and united China. To that end this Government has been lending its best efforts to be of service in appropriate ways, such as through the exercise of friendly good offices when requested by the Chinese, through direct military assistance in the prosecution of the war against Japan and through assisting China’s economy to survive the strain of war.”