893.61321/3–2747
Memorandum by the Director of the Office of Far Eastern Affairs (Vincent) to the Assistant Secretary of State for Economic Affairs (Thorp)
Dear Willard: With reference to the memorandum I sent you a day or so ago16 in regard to credits to China, I am sending you a copy of a letter to me from Bill Martin.17 I have also sent a copy to Mr. Clayton.
Am I right in guessing that your vote and that of Norman Ness is for postponement? I should like to see the matter raised with the Bank, provided no harm would come from doing so, even though favorable consideration would not be forthcoming. I have not found, as I said in my memo to the Secretary, that the Directors were antagonistic, but I will admit that they seem to be determined on a negative approach to this problem. What I should like to do is prepare the ground so that if there is some degree of real improvement in the Chinese Government during the next few weeks, we could give recognition to this improvement by having the Bank show a willingness to consider limited credits for selected projects. It seems to me that only in this way can we encourage the Chinese Government along the lines we want; that is, by pacing our assistance to steps the Chinese Government may take towards improvement.