811.20200D/1–2848: Telegram
The Ambassador in China (Stuart) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 28—1:31 p. m.]
170. At weekly press conference on January 28, Dr. Hollington K. Tong, director of Government Information Office, was questioned by correspondents with regard to his statement to the students of the Central Political Institute (reEmbtel 169, January 28) that over a period of 6 months, something like 60 editorial comments were circulated by USIS in China. He claimed that about 90 percent were anti-Chinese or very critical of the Chinese Government.
He was asked whether the Chinese Government considered that USIS is deliberately slanting its editorials to reflect upon the Chinese. He replied that the Chinese Government did not consider this the case but did feel that some interesting and important news items favorable to China were not included in these articles, mentioning that full space had not been given to Bullitt’s statements.6
Dr. Tong claimed to have based his statement on a study he made over a 6-month period (from July to December), but also admitted taking some of the figures from an article in Time magazine.
Dr. Tong appeared very much embarrassed and apologized to the USIS director who was present at the conference, claiming that his statement was made in an off-the-record talk and was not intended to be published.
- William C. Bullitt, former Ambassador to the Soviet Union and to France, had been writing for Life magazine.↩