125.633/5–2748: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in China (Stuart)
806. When Ward was in Washington on consultation last Feb he obtained sympathetic consideration to his recommendation that the Consulate General at Mukden continue to function even after capture of that city by Communist forces, and that his staff be maintained at a level higher than the work of the office would justify in order that individual members of the staff might from time to time be dispatched out of the area with oral reports of conditions obtaining in Mukden at the time (Mukden’s 197 May 8 to Dept repeated Nanking 266). However, this informal understanding was reached in anticipation of an all-out Communist attack on Mukden this spring. It now appears that such an attack may not eventuate for at least several months and for this reason as well as for reasons mentioned in Embtel 958 May 27 (repeated Mukden 101) it is believed that Dept would not be justified [Page 821] in maintaining more than a normal staff complement at Mukden, especially in view of critical personnel shortages elsewhere.
Sent Nanking as 806, repeated Mukden as 99.