893.00/1–1249
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Chief of the Division of Chinese Affairs (Sprouse)
At my request, Mr. Daridan called this afternoon in connection with the Chinese proposal that foreign powers act as intermediaries in initiating negotiations with the Chinese Communists. I informed Mr. Daridan that, in the light of our past experience, we were declining the Chinese request. I further stated that we were informing the British Government of our action as well as the French Government, but that we were not informing the USSR, our reply to the Chinese aide-mémoire being based upon the assumption that the Chinese had approached each government unilaterally in this matter. I asked him if his Embassy had had any further indication of the French Government’s attitude in this regard.
Mr. Daridan said that his Embassy had had no further word from the French Foreign Office beyond notification that the Foreign Office had received a note from the British Embassy at Paris setting forth the preliminary reactions of the British Government. Pie said that he did not anticipate that the French Government would accept the Chinese request in as much as it has already indicated to the Embassy that it would not act unilaterally as an intermediary. In reply to my question, Mr. Daridan said that the French Government had the impression that the Chinese request provided either for unilateral action by any one of the four powers or for joint action as intermediaries. [Page 41] He explained that this impression grew out of a statement made orally to the French Ambassador at Nanking by the Chinese Foreign Minister at the time the latter delivered the aide-mémoire.
Mr. Daridan promised to let me know when his Embassy received information indicating the nature of the French Government’s reply. I informed Mr. Daridan that my notification to him of our action was intended as notification to the French Government.