Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947, The Far East: China, Volume VII

761.93/6–2547: Telegram

The Ambassador in China (Stuart) to the Secretary of State

Nanking, June 25, 1947.
[Received June 25—10:11 a.m.]

1397. The following statement was issued today by the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

“The Wai-chiao pu⁷⁸ issues today the following communiqué on the negotiations with the USSR concerning the take-over of Port Arthur and Dairen:

1. Immediately upon the surrender of Japan, the Chinese Government in preparation for the take-over of the northeastern provinces decided to dispatch troops to Dairen to reestablish Chinese administration in Port Arthur and Dairen. This was, however, strongly opposed by the Soviet Government on the ground that Dairen was to be made a free port. The Chinese Government was thus prevented from realizing the first step toward the take-over of the administration of Port Arthur and Dairen in accordance with Sino-Soviet treaty of August 1945.

It will be recalled that the declaration of Dairen as a free port under the treaty signifies that commodities in transit through that port should be exempt from duty and has no bearing whatever on the question of the stationing of Chinese troops in that port. That the administration in Dairen should belong to China is explicitly provided in the treaty. The treaty in no way restricts the right of the Chinese Government to send troops to Dairen. The Wai-Chiao Pu, therefore, took serious exception to the aforementioned view of the Soviet Government.

2. Owing to the obstacles thus interposed by the Soviet Government, Chinese troops could not be sent to Dairen in October 1945 and the Chinese Government was unable to proceed with the take-over of the administration of Port Arthur and Dairen. Since that date the Chinese Communists have rapidly built up an armed force in the vicinity of Port Arthur and Dairen. The existence and expansion of this anti-Government force have constituted a strong impediment to the takeover of Port Arthur and Dairen by the Chinese Government from the main land.

3. In March this year, the Soviet Government expressed to the Chinese Government the hope that the Chinese Government might set up its administrative authority in Port Arthur and Dairen. The Chinese Government in reply again made it clear that it was because of the above-mentioned obstacles that the Chinese Government had not been able to take over the administration of Port Arthur and Dairen.

4. During the last 3 months, the Chinese Government has repeatedly taken up this matter with the Soviet Government. It was stated by the Soviet Government that no anti-Chinese Government forces existed in the entire region of Dairen and the Port Arthur naval base; that the Soviet Government would ensure the safety of the personnel sent to Dairen and Port Arthur by the Chinese Government as well as liberty of action in the discharge of their duties; and that questions as to the number of police to be sent by the Chinese to Dairen and Port Arthur and the places where they were to be quartered should be discussed and decided on the spot by Soviet and Chinese officials. The Soviet Government stated, however, that it could not agree to the dispatch of Chinese troops to the Port Arthur naval base because the defense of that naval base had been entrusted by the treaty to the Soviet Government. As regards Dairen, the Soviet Government stated that while it would permit Chinese police to enter that city, provided their number and the places where they would be quartered were agreed upon between the two parties, it could not agree to the entry of Chinese troops into Dairen on the ground that the state of war against Japan had not yet been terminated, and Dairen should therefore still be subject to the military supervision established in the Port Arthur naval base area.

And in the opinion of the Wai-Chiao Pu the Chinese Government is fully entitled to send troops to Port Arthur and maintain them there, for, according to the Sino-Soviet treaty, the entire Port Arthur naval base area is set aside for the “joint use” of the two countries. The Chinese Government, therefore, cannot accept the Soviet interpretation in this particular.

As to the stationing of Chinese troops in Dairen, while it is true that the Sino-Soviet treaty subjects that city to the military supervision of the Port Arthur naval base area “in case of war against Japan”, it is undesirable [undisputed?] that Japan has for more than a year been under Allied occupation following her unconditional surrender and that the “war against Japan” no longer in actuality exists. And even “in case of war against Japan” the Chinese Government is not precluded by any provision of the Sino-Soviet treaty from sending its troops to Dairen. Moreover, the “military supervision” of the Port Arthur naval base area over Dairen even “in case of war against Japan” should be confined to the fulfillment of the requirement of joint prosecution of the war by China and USSR. The sending of Chinese troops to Dairen to protect the administration and ensure its safety could not be considered in any case as detrimental to a joint prosecution of war against Japan. For these reasons the Chinese Government has repeatedly expressed in writing its inability to accept the views of the Soviet Government and requested that the Soviet Government adopt a friendly attitude of understanding and cooperation toward the decision of the Chinese Government to station troops in Dairen. Furthermore, in the recent circumstances the regions of Port Arthur and Dairen are at any moment open to the menace and attacks of anti-Government armed forces in the vicinity. In order to ensure the safety and freedom of its administrative personnel in the region, the Chinese Government, over and above its treaty right, has the actual need of sending troops to Dairen. It is a matter of regret that this has not yet been assented to by the Soviet Government.

5. While continuing to thresh out the matter with the Soviet Government, the Chinese Government recently dispatched an inspection mission under General Tung Yen-ping to Port Arthur and Dairen as a preparatory step toward the restoration of Chinese administrative authority in those regions. Before the departure of this group the Chinese Government had obtained the agreement of the Soviet Government, and its assurance of full assistance to be given to the mission as well as of freedom of action in the discharge of their duties. But, after arrival in Port Arthur, the mission did not receive the promised assistance. Together with the obstructions from the so-called ‘local administration’, this had made it impossible for the mission to carry out their plans of inspection. The result of this trip again shows that Chinese administrative personnel cannot hope to perform their functions without the presence and protection of an adequate force of Chinese troops and police in Port Arthur and Dairen.

6. In short, the failure of the Chinese Government thus far to take over Port Arthur and Dairen has been due to two factors: (1) The repeated refusal of the Soviet Government to agree to the stationing of Chinese troops in Port Arthur and Dairen and (2) the formation by the Chinese Communists of strongly armed forces in the vicinity of Port Arthur and Dairen to hinder the take-over of these regions by the Chinese Government, the existence of such armed forces having resulted from the first refusal in October 1945 of the Soviet Government to agree to the landing of Chinese troops in Dairen.

The Chinese Government is now constrained to call the serious attention of the Soviet Government to its fundamental obligations under the two following provisions of an exchange of notes forming part of the Sino-Soviet treaty;⁷⁹

(1) “… The Government of the USSR agrees to render to China moral support and aid in military supplies and other material resources, such support and aid to be entirely given to the National Government as the Central Government of China.”

(2) “… The Government of the USSR regards the three eastern provinces as part of China and reaffirms its respect for China’s full sovereignty over the three eastern provinces and recognize their territorial and administrative integrity.”

The Chinese Government sincerely hopes that the Soviet Government, mindful of its obligations mentioned above, will refrain from further employment of such unjustifiable interpretations of the treaty as to undermine the sovereignty and administrative integrity of China and hinder her work of taking over the administration of the Port Arthur area and Dairen. The Chinese Government, prompted by its earnest desire for friendly understanding and cooperation, will continue to seek an agreement with the Soviet Government. At the same time, the Chinese Government wishes hereby to declare that, since the right of China to dispatch troops and police to the Port Arthur area and Darien is not restricted by treaty provisions, the Chinese Government is free at any time to decide on the exercise of the right.”

Stuart

78. Foreign Office.
79. United Nations Treaty Series, vol. 10, p. 340.