Foreign Relations of the United States, 1946, The Far East: China, Volume X

893.24/9–1746: Telegram

The Consul General at Shanghai (Davis) to the Secretary of State

Shanghai, September 17, 1946.
[Received September 18—8:52 a.m.]

1756. Executive Yuan of Chinese Govt has placed ban on importation of “American Army surplus goods” effective as of September 13. Ban imposed to prevent purchase of surplus goods by all private firms, in competition with the Govt, which has purchased all remaining Army surplus supplies in China and Western Pacific under overall contract recently signed.⁴

Information being sought as to whether this ban applies only to new purchases of surplus goods or to import of such goods after September 13. Present information which has not been confirmed indicates possibility ban applies to all privately-owned surplus commodities regardless of when purchased. Full interpretation Executive [Yuan] Order will be sent soonest.⁵

Repeated Nanking as 998.

Davis

4. Signed at Shanghai, August 30, 1946. For text, see Department of State Publication No. 2655, Report to Congress on Foreign Surplus Disposal, October 1946, p. 40; for correspondence, see pp. 1033 ff.
5. See infra.