893.00/11–749: Telegram
The Consul General at Taipei (Macdonald) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 8—4:33 a. m.]
677. Information contained in Deptel 434, November 52 conveyed orally to Chen Cheng this morning. He assured me no American shipping [Page 1161] will be molested but said they must take precautions against ships flying British flag due to unconfirmed rumor that Communists purchased British vessels and still flying British flags.
Nationalist Government here has taken increasingly unfriendly attitude towards British. British Air Attaché was refused permission for RAF3 plane land Taipei today.
Other day I remarked casually to K. C. Wu4 that I considered orders to CAF to bomb shipping in Formosan Straits and Chinese territorial waters serious mistake. He laughed and said “American ships have nothing to fear but personally I wish they would drop a few bombs on some British ships. [”]