893.00/3–1147: Telegram
The Ambassador in China (Stuart) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 11—6 a.m.]
519. Foreign Minister sent for me this morning and asked me to transmit the following information to you at Moscow:42
No doubt acting under Generalissimo’s instructions, Wang Shih-chieh stated that China would strenuously object to having her internal affairs being placed on the agenda as subject for discussion at Moscow Conference.43
He also reported that Soviet Ambassador had called on him March 8 with two requests: (1) That Chinese take over the administration of Dairen and Port Arthur, and (2) that joint operation be undertaken of railway line from Dairen through Mukden to Changchun. Foreign Minister stated to Petrov that he would send a formal reply in answer in a few days, but meanwhile he wished to make two comments:
- a.
- That when the Chinese Government undertook to land Chinese troops at Dairen toward the latter part of 1945, the Soviet Government objected on the ground that Dairen was a free port; although Chinese Government did not agree, yet it was powerless at the time to insist on the landing; if these troops had been landed there at that time, the situation in all of Manchuria as well as in Liaotung Peninsula would have been very different today.
- b.
- That in order to take over the administration and restore railway communication, that area would have to be cleared of Communist forces which are reported operating close to Dairen. (In this connection see Embassy’s telegram 460, March 6, 2 p.m.)
Wang Shih-chieh went on to say that Chinese Government was now considering the advisability of military operation to clear the region around Dairen and the railway zone to Mukden of Chinese Communists.
Sent Department 519; please repeat Moscow.