893.85/11–2445
The Secretary of State to the Administrator of the War Shipping Administration (Land)
My Dear Admiral Land: As has been informally communicated to your Assistant, Mr. Huntington T. Morse, our Embassy at Chungking advises that Mr. S. C. Wang, head of the China Supply Commission, is authorized by the Chinese Government to discuss, negotiate and conclude the charter or purchase of ships.
The Embassy adds that immediate action is required, as the situation is serious. Its advices are in response to an inquiry included in the Department’s reply to an earlier telegram of October 27,91 recommending that action be taken to relieve the urgent need for vessels to meet a critical shortage of local water transport facilities in China. This telegram and the Department’s reply92 have been the subject of [Page 690] informal discussions between Mr. Morse and the Department’s Shipping Division.
I wish to take this occasion to confirm to you that the Department supports the views of the Embassy in Chungking, to the effect that it is in this Government’s interest to take any appropriate and authorized effort to aid in relieving the critical shortage of water transport facilities in China.
Sincerely yours,