740.00119 P.W./2–1545
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in China ( Hurley )
The Secretary of State quotes below a statement from an article entitled “Pillars of Peace for the Pacific” which appeared in the April 1944 edition of Free World:
“The problem of the Chinese Eastern Railway has been simplified by its sale by Soviet Russia to ‘Manchukuo’ in 1934. When the Chinese representative in Moscow protested against a sale made without the assent of the Chinese Government the Russian authorities explained that when China recovered Manchuria the railway would be included and Soviet Russia would not retain a share in it. The transaction would indeed, as the Russians further philosophized it, amount to Russia’s giving up the railroad in favor of China—with Japan paying the bill!”
The author of this article, Wu Nan-Ju, formerly was China’s Minister to Denmark and was last reported to be attached to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Chungking.
While it is realized that it would probably be a difficult and delicate matter to ascertain whether the Chinese Government has a record of any such commitment by the Soviet authorities as that alleged in the foregoing statement, the Department would be interested in any information in regard to the matter in case the Embassy should feel in a position to make inquiries.