Office of the Historian
  1. Home
  2. Historical Documents
  3. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1949, The Far East: China, Volume IX
  4. Document 1312

893.48/7–2549

Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Chinese Affairs (Sprouse) to the Director of the Office of Far Eastern Affairs (Butterworth)

[Washington,] July 25, 1949.

Mr. Meade2 and Mr. Ford3 of the British Embassy called today by appointment to discuss the question of delivery of relief supplies to Shanghai. Mr. Merchant,4 Mr. Freeman5 and I discussed the matter with them.

Mr. Meade handed us a copy of a telegram dated July 21 from the British Embassy at Nanking to the Foreign Office and a copy of another telegram dated July 23 from the Foreign Office to the British Embassy6 here dealing with this subject. It will be noted that in the [Page 1274] telegram from the British Embassy at Nanking the British Ambassador suggests restricting the operation of relief ships “to the purely practical one of providing supplies (including rice) and transportation for foreign communities and business organisations and their employees including of course Chinese. Mr. Meade did not know whether the supplies mentioned included fuel but presumed that they did not. The Foreign Office telegram indicates a desire to follow the course recommended by the British Ambassador at Nanking and expresses the hope that the Department of State would associate itself with this action.

We informed Mr. Meade and Mr. Ford that we would refer the matter to our superiors for consideration and give them an answer as soon as possible. In this connection it might be possible to use this British proposal as a means of associating them with us in any plans for the evacuation of foreign nationals from Shanghai. It should be possible to arrange for any evacuation ships entering Shanghai to carry certain supplies, such as foodstuffs, for the foreign community there, including the Chinese employees of foreign business organizations. In the event of such a course, the operation would be primarily for the purpose of evacuation and the relief aspect would be a secondary objective.

  1. Charles A. G. de J. Meade, Counselor of the British Embassy.↩
  2. Joseph F. Ford, First Secretary of the British Embassy.↩
  3. Livingston T. Merchant, of the Office of Far Eastern Affairs.↩
  4. Fulton Freeman, Assistant Chief of the Division of Chinese Affairs.↩
  5. Neither printed; for British proposal regarding sending relief supplies to Shanghai, see memorandum of July 20 from the British Embassy, p. 1122.↩