Office of the Historian

894A.01/3–2349

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Chief of the Division of Chinese Affairs (Sprouse)

[Washington,] March 23, 1949.

During a conversation this afternoon with Mr. Ford,4 who called at my request, I informed him that the Department was interested in the activities of the Formosan League for Re-emancipation and had instructed the appropriate consular offices to keep in touch with League representatives and report to the Department on their activities. I pointed out that some of the League leaders were in Hong Kong and asked if the British Government had received any information regarding the League and its aims.

Mr. Ford replied that he did not know of the existence of the League but that he would inquire of the Foreign Office in this regard.

I stated that we were, of course, interested in Formosa and the activities of the League in relation to this general problem, pointing out that it would be helpful to know to what extent the Communists might have succeeded in penetrating the organization and its relation to the Chinese Government. I added that it would be helpful to have some indication of British thinking in regard to the question of [Page 302] Formosa. When Mr. Ford said that there were some British officials who advocated taking over the island in view of its strategic importance, I asked if it was contemplated that the British Navy could or would be used for such an operation. He immediately expressed the opinion that the United States was in a much better position to carry out such an operation. In answer to my inquiry regarding the Chinese reaction on the mainland to such action, he said that in his opinion it would be fatal to the position of any foreign power in China which used such means to detach Formosa from China.

Mr. Ford concluded the conversation by stating that he would report the foregoing to the Foreign Office and seek an indication of British thinking on the subject. I asked that the matter be treated as highly confidential since the problem of Formosa was naturally a very delicate one.

  1. J. F. Ford, First Secretary of the British Embassy.↩