Office of the Historian
  1. Home
  2. Historical Documents
  3. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947, The Far East: China, Volume VII
  4. Document 514

893.00/3–1747

The Chinese Embassy to the Department of State 19

Aide-Mémoire

1.
The Chinese Ambassador at Moscow, Dr. Foo Ping-sheung, has reported to the Chinese Foreign Minister that the Secretary of State informed him personally of the receipt of a letter from M. Molotov proposing a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union in order to exchange views regarding the decision concerning China reached at a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the three Powers held in Moscow in December 1945, and conveying his concurrence in the participation of a Chinese representative in the proposed discussions.
2.
Dr. Foo has further reported that the Secretary of State and Mr. Bevin had only consented to have an exchange of views with the Soviet Foreign Commissar in regard to the question of the withdrawal of American and Soviet troops from China and were unwilling to discuss any question concerning China’s domestic affairs, and that the Secretary was desirous of soliciting the views of the Chinese Government in regard to the proposed meeting since there was a possibility of the Soviet Union bringing up China’s internal situation for discussion.
3.
In reply to this inquiry, Dr. Wang Shih-chieh, the Chinese Foreign Minister, has directed the Chinese Ambassador in Moscow to communicate to the Secretary of State and Mr. Bevin that, since the Chinese Government was not a party to the statement relating to China as embodied in the communiqué of the Moscow Conference of December 1945, and since that statement has been strongly objected to by the Chinese people as being at variance with their cherished principles of independence and sovereignty, the Chinese Government cannot participate in, or agree to, a meeting of the Foreign Ministers for the purpose of discussing any question in connection with the aforementioned statement as proposed by the Soviet Foreign Commissar, and that it earnestly asks that the Foreign Ministers of the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union refrain from any discussion of matters relating to China’s domestic affairs.
4.
The Chinese Ambassador in Moscow has also been directed by the Chinese Foreign Minister to thank the Secretary of State and Mr. Bevin for the position they have taken in declining to make China’s internal affairs a subject of discussion. He has been further directed to convey to Mr. Marshall the Chinese Government’s appreciation for the assurance given by the United States Ambassador at Moscow, Mr. Walter Bedell Smith, to Ambassador Foo to the effect that the United States would decline to accept any commitment detrimental to China’s interests.
5.
Moreover, Ambassador Foo has been instructed to express to the Secretary of State the hope that China’s position regarding the question of procedure concerning the conference on peace settlements for Germany and Austria will not be overlooked on account of the discussions arising out of the aforementioned suggestion of the Soviet Foreign Commissar.
[ Washington ,] March 17, 1947.
  1. Handed on March 18 by the Chinese Minister-Counselor of Embassy (Tan) to the Director of the Office of Far Eastern Affairs (Vincent).↩