393.1115/7–2648
Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Chinese Affairs (Sprouse) to the Director of the Office of Far Eastern Affairs (Butterworth)
Subject: Status of Plans for Protection of American Nationals and Evacuation of American Nationals and other Potential Evacuees from Areas in China
Referring to your memorandum of July 2259 on the above subject, the present status of plans for the protection and evacuation of American nationals in China is as follows:
ComNavWesPac, in coordination with the Embassy in Nanking, has prepared Operation Plan No. 103, a copy of which was sent to the Department with the Embassy’s despatch No. 217, May 6, 1948.60 This plan, which supersedes Operation Plans Nos. 105–47 and 104–47,59 which were unacceptable to the Embassy, “sets forth the action to be taken by all U. S. Forces in China in the event of local emergencies requiring the protection of lives and property but not involving war with a third power.” With respect to the revised plan, the Embassy states that it “meets our requirement that the Ambassador should have the authority to determine when a state of emergency exists which requires the plan’s implementation, and when an emergency ceases to exist.”
Pursuant to the instructions set forth in the Department’s Circular Airgram dated April 6, 1948, entitled “Plans for Emergency Action”, each post in China is to prepare a local emergency security plan for the protection and evacuation of American nationals from its consular district. These plans are to be sent to the Embassy for integration, and the Embassy is to submit to the Department an integrated plan. In addition, copies of the plans for each post are to be submitted to the Department. To date the Department has received local plans from only Tientsin and Peiping.60 No integrated plan has yet been received.
With reference to the local plans, the Embassy has stated that they are to be prepared by the consular offices in coordination with the various local military and naval commanders and then submitted to ComNavWesPac for coordination with the Master Plan. Both Tientsin’s and Peiping’s plans were so prepared. We have no knowledge that the local plans have been either received by ComNavWesPac or coordinated by it with the Master Plan. Both the Embassy and [Page 842] the Consulate General at Shanghai have stated in communications that their local plans are in the process of preparation. It appears that neither the Embassy nor Admiral Badger is concerned over the circumstance that all of the consular offices have not yet completed their emergency plans, for in the Embassy’s despatch No. 217, May 6 (transmitting Operation Plan No. 103) it is stated: “We have been informed by Admiral Badger that preliminary planning between responsible Commanders and local officials has progressed so that there is thorough cognizance of requirements in an emergency, and that, therefore, the temporary lack of local plans on paper is not cause for concern.” In this connection, DS62 has informed us that no deadline was set for the submission of the plans to the Department and that it had not expected that even the first of the plans would come in before the first of July.
With respect to the submission of the evacuation plans for China to SANACC, conversations with Colonel Field, Secretary of SANACC, and with others in the SANACC office have established the fact that the question of plans for the evacuation of American nationals from China has never been presented to SANACC. It appears that it was the intention that the matter be referred to SANACC at such time as a coordinated plan and the Embassy’s comments thereon are received from the field.
Presumably it is still considered desirable that the matter be presented to SANACC for its consideration. With a view to doing so and to ascertaining that all plans are in readiness for any emergency, we are preparing a telegram to the Embassy requesting a status report by telegram and the early submission of the local emergency plans and the integrated plan.