894A.24/11–1449
Memorandum of Conversation, by Mr. William McAfee of the Office of Chinese Affairs
| Participants: | Mr. Hubert Graves, Counselor, British Embassy |
| Mr. Sprouse, CA | |
| Mr. McAfee, CA |
Mr. Graves called this afternoon and, referring to recent press reports of the continued shipment of U.S. tanks and other military materiel to Taiwan, said that his Government was interested in such shipments because of the possibility of Chinese Communist capture of Taiwan and Nationalist military materiel there. He explained that he was not making this inquiry on instructions from the Foreign Office but that the Foreign Office had expressed its concern in this regard in view of the inevitable strengthening of the Chinese Communist forces which would result from such capture and its relation to Hong Kong. He further stated that, while the British Chiefs of Staff had indicated that the British armed services could withstand an attack upon Hong Kong, this was a matter which was under weekly review by a committee set up by the British Government for this purpose. Mr. Graves expressed particular interest in the matter of tanks and B–25 bombers.
Mr. Sprouse said that we had noted newspaper reports of these recent shipments and that we were endeavoring to ascertain whether this materiel had been purchased under the $125 million grants or from the Chinese Government’s own funds.
Mr. McAfee explained that these shipments consisted of items purchased by the Chinese Government under contracts concluded between 1947 and the early spring of 1949 and that in each case the Department had issued an export license covering such materiel, customarily at the time of the conclusion of the contract. He pointed out that the newspaper reports of the B–25 shipments had apparently been vastly exaggerated and that the number of B–25’s was 11 rather than the 100 reported by the press. He explained that the contract for these B–25’s had been concluded here in late 1947 or early in 1948. Mr. McAfee also stated that the tanks in question were, so far as he knew, light tanks and did not include Shermans. He pointed out that the Chinese had requested import licenses on tanks which they proposed to purchase as [Page 426] military surplus from the British Government, some of which were Shermans. The necessary import licenses, he stated, had been granted some time during the summer of 1949 and the tanks may have subsequently been shipped to this country for reconditioning. Mr. McAfee called to Mr. Graves’ attention additional Chinese Government purchases of military materiel from other foreign governments, such as Canada, Belgium and possibly Spain.
Mr. Sprouse suggested to Mr. Graves that the British military liaison officers in Washington should be able to obtain from the National Military Establishment some indication of the types and quantities of military materiel now in Taiwan, as well as similar information regarding U.S. equipment captured from the National Government by the Chinese Communists.
Mr. Graves said that the Foreign Office would appreciate being kept informed, if possible, of further shipments of U.S. military materiel to Taiwan in view of the relation of such shipments to the problem of Hong Kong. Mr. Sprouse replied that we would be pleased to give him appropriate information in this regard.