Executive Secretariat Files: NSC 34
Memorandum by the Acting Secretary of State to the Executive Secretary of the National Security Council (Souers)
[Washington,] January 12, 1949.
Subject: Steps being taken to retain a U.S. foothold at Shanghai
The following outline of the course of action currently being followed by the Department of State with respect to the retention of a U.S. foothold at Shanghai is supplied pursuant to the Council’s action at its thirty-first meeting.
- 1.
- Under present policy, existing diplomatic and consular establishments in China will be retained, although areas in which they are located come under Communist control. The American Consulate General at Shanghai will continue, insofar as possible, its normal functions if control of that city passes to the Chinese Communists.
- 2.
- In issuing warnings to American citizens regarding evacuation, care has been taken not to suggest that key American personnel in commercial, industrial, religious and philanthropic enterprises should leave or that American citizens having substantial interests in China should abandon those interests. American naval vessels with complements of Marines are now stationed at Shanghai to protect and, if necessary, evacuate temporarily American citizens in the event serious disorders should arise during any interregnum between the breakdown of Nationalist control and the establishment of Communist control in the city.
Robert A. Lovett