893.00/6–2749
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Deputy Director of the Office of Far Eastern Affairs (Allison)
Dr. Tan11 called at his request to raise under instructions from his Government two points. He first referred to the interview granted Mr. Kan Chieh-hou and the Chinese Ambassador by the President12 and stated that he had been instructed to reenforce what had been said at that meeting with respect to the desire of the Chinese Government that Ambassador Stuart, upon leaving Nanking, call at Canton prior to returning to the United States.13 According to Dr. Tan, the President had informed Mr. Woodward, Chief of Protocol, at the meeting referred to that this was a subject for State Department consideration and had instructed Mr. Woodward to inform the appropriate official. I told Dr. Tan that Mr. Woodward had provided Mr. Butterworth14 [Page 1369] with a full report of the conversation referred to and that this Government would naturally give consideration to the views expressed by the representatives of the Chinese Government. I stated further that no definite date had been set for Ambassador Stuart’s return.
Dr. Tan then raised the question of the reported publication by this Government of a White Paper on China. He said the attention of the Chinese Government had been called to articles in the American press predicting such a publication, particularly those in the Christian Science Monitor of June 4, the New Republic of June 15, and the Washington Post of last week. Reference was also made to the statement by Secretary Acheson at his last press conference that the Department did have such a paper under consideration but that no decision had been made regarding its publication. Dr. Tan stated that his Government was concerned lest any document which might be made public contain sections which could be lifted out of context by either unfriendly or uninformed writers and used in a manner which would be embarrassing to the Chinese Government. He said that he had been instructed to express the hope that the United States Government would take into consideration the possible ill effects on the Nationalist Government of the publication of any such document. I informed Dr. Tan that I personally had no connection with the preparation of any such paper but that I was certain that the considerations mentioned by him were receiving adequate attention and that, in any case, I would bring his remarks to the attention of the appropriate authorities.
- Shao-hwa Tan, Chinese Minister.↩
- See memorandum of June 22, p. 708. Mr. Kan was the Personal Representative of Acting President Li Tsung-jen of China; the Ambassador was Dr. V. K. Wellington Koo.↩
- For Ambassador John Leighton Stuart’s plans, see vol. viii, “The Embassy in China after occupation of Nanking by Chinese Communists”, chapter I.↩
- W. Walton Butterworth, Director of the Office of Far Eastern Affairs.↩