[Enclosure]
Aide-Mémoire From the Chinese Minister for
Foreign Affairs (Wang)
Considerations on the China
Situation: a New Aid Program and an Agreement re Japan
The situation in China is now critical. The factors which produced
this crisis are mainly three.
- First, eight years of war against Japan followed by three
years of destruction wrought by the Chinese Communist Rebellion
have caused incalculable material losses and unprecedented
political and social dislocation.
- Secondly, on the surface, China seems to have been fighting a
domestic rebellion, but, as the Chinese Communists are backed by
an international organization and an external Power, her fight
is essentially international in nature. China has a common
frontier of over six thousand kilometers with a Communist Power
and has among her neighbors Burma, Indo-China, Korea and Malaya
where Communist strength has all been gathering momentum.
- Thirdly, though it is now three years since Japan surrendered,
there has been neither a peace settlement nor any definite
agreement between the United States and China with regard to
Japan. This situation has given rise to apprehensions in China,
has furnished fertile ground for agitations and has rendered
impossible the initiation of a positive policy of collaboration
between the two countries vis-à-vis Japan.
In spite of these difficulties, the Government of China and more
notably President Chiang Kai-shek have preserved, as they did during
the war against Japanese aggression, their unshakable faith in their
ability to put down the Chinese Communist Rebellion. The character
of the Chinese people and their traditions will make it very
difficult for them to accept Communism. The treatment they have
received in the Communist-controlled areas is causing them actively
to oppose it. After over ten years of deprivation and hardship,
[Page 679]
harsh criticisms on the
part of the Chinese public of their Government are not unexpected;
but the large majority of the masses and intellectuals desire
nothing more strongly than the strengthening of their Government in
the face of the national crisis. Given an adequate program of
economic rehabilitation and military reenforcement, China can be
made the bulwark of freedom and peace in the Far East.
In view of the above, the Government of China wishes to place the
following two suggestions for the consideration of the Government of
the United States of America.
1. a new china aid
program
In 1948, American aid to China was given for one year only, while for
Europe a four-year Recovery Plan was in principle adopted. The China
Aid Program totalled four hundred million dollars, a small portion
of which was allotted to possible military assistance. It is
manifest that, in view of the more than a million Communist
combatants and very extensive fronts involved, the sum for military
aid was much too small to be effective. It is equally clear that an
economic aid program of such limited size and time can not be
expected to achieve the much needed rehabilitation.
Because of the critical nature of the situation and in view of the
long tradition of Sino-American friendship, the Chinese Government
urges that, in the formulation of a future aid program, the United
States Government would place China on an equal footing with
Europe.
And, to enable China to meet successfully the increasing military
menace of the Chinese Communists in Manchuria and North China, it is
further urged that the United States Government would provide
military assistance on a much larger scale than before. While
military assistance and economic aid are of equal importance and
urgency, military operations will necessarily call for the greater
outlay of the funds both from the Chinese Government and from
American aid. The Chinese Government, being fully aware of the
gigantic nature of the task involved in a complete suppression of
the Communist Rebellion, has been giving consideration to a
three-year campaign plan.
It is, therefore, suggested that, in continuation of the 1948 Aid
Act, a new China Aid Program including the following two parts be
given full consideration:
- (a)
- a three-year program of Economic Aid amounting annually to
four hundred fifty million dollars. In the early stages of
this program, the greater part of the aid will be furnished
in the form of commodities, in order to help in maintaining
China’s balance of international payments and the stability
of prices, while in the later stages,
[Page 680]
emphasis will be placed on the
increase of production through specific projects of
development.56
- (b)
- a three-year program of Military Assistance amounting
annually to five hundred fifty million dollars. This sum
will be devoted mainly to the procurement of munitions and
equipment. Assistance in technical services will be also
needed.
With reference to the machinery for ensuring the efficient use of the
economic aid furnished, the arrangement between the Economic
Cooperation Administration and the Chinese Government should be
permitted to continue in force. As regards military assistance, it
is hoped that a ranking officer may be sent to China to coordinate
the work similar to what the representative in China of the Economic
Cooperation Administration is doing in the field of economic aid.
The Chinese Government assumes that, in order to guard against
possible misunderstanding on the part of the Chinese public and
malicious Communist propaganda, care will be taken to avoid such
stipulations as may be regarded as an infringement on China’s
sovereignty or administrative integrity.57
[The remainder of the aide-mémoire dealt with
“An Agreement on Common Policy re Japan”.]
