893.50 Recovery/11–348
The Acting Secretary of State to the Secretary of Defense (Forrestal)
Dear Mr. Secretary: I have awaited your return to Washington before replying to your letter of November 3, 1948 regarding the distribution of military supplies to China. Unfortunately, a misunderstanding has apparently arisen regarding the views of the Department [Page 207] of State expressed in my letter of October 15 to you. It was not the intention of this Department to propose that the entire quantity of arms and ammunition purchased either under the $125 million Aid Fund or the $37.8 million subdivision thereof be earmarked for distribution in north China but rather to propose steps calculated to insure that a suitable proportion of this matériel be delivered to north China commanders. In this connection it will be recalled that United States representatives in China have been unanimous in the view that General Fu Tso-yi is one of the ablest Nationalist commanders but that he has been considerably handicapped in maintaining his important position by failure of the Chinese authorities at Nanking to allocate adequate military supplies to him. A desire to correct this situation is implicit in Admiral Badger’s telegram 240715Z of August 24, 194866 and subsequent action by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the National Military Establishment and the Department of State. Under conditions obtaining at the time my letter was written, this Department was apprehensive that the distribution of military supplies proposed by the Chinese High Command, viz., 30 per cent to Tientsin, 10 per cent to Tsingtao and 60 per cent to Shanghai, did not adequately take into account the capability for effective use and the need of north China commanders for such supplies. It recommended, therefore, that if the National Military Establishment shared this apprehension, appropriate steps be taken through General Barr to induce the Chinese High Command to allocate a more suitable proportion of the matériel to north China. It is believed that such action by General Barr would not have been inappropriate in view of the wide latitude which he enjoys under existing oral and written directives with respect to the offering of military advice on a confidential and personal basis to the President of China.
It is realized that recent major changes in the Chinese military situation may have caused the United States military authorities in China to revise their estimates of the most effective distribution of the supplies in question. In any event, it does not appear from telegram 92477 of November 12 to General Barr and from his telegram 631 of November 1467 in reply that a divergence of opinion exists at the present time between those authorities and the Chinese Ministry of National Defense with respect to the optimum distribution of the supplies. Consequently, there appears to be no need for further action in this regard.
Sincerely yours,