Office of the Historian

500.A15A5/885: Telegram

The Ambassador in France (Bullitt) to the Secretary of State

Paris, June 8, 1937—9 a.m.
[Received June 8—6:45 a.m.]

747. Your 256, June 4, 8 p.m.25 I discussed your telegram under reference with Delbos26 this afternoon. He said that he would refer the matter at once to Blum27 and the Minister of Marine and would give me a reply a soon as possible.

In the course of the conversation Delbos informed me that Kung28 while in Paris had expressed a desire to purchase in France for the Chinese Government a number of warships and airplanes. Delbos said that so far as he was concerned he was pleased by the proposal and had approved it in principle. He said that the planes were to be of the latest French types. He had no exact information with regard to the warships.

I asked how payment was to be made. Delbos replied that he had submitted to the Ministry of Finance a proposal that the French Government should guarantee credits to be extended by French banks to the Chinese Government for the purchase of ships and planes.

Bullitt
  1. See footnote 22, p. 630.↩
  2. Yvon Delbos, French Minister for Foreign Affairs, and delegate to the League of Nations Assembly.↩
  3. Léon Blum, President of the French Council of Ministers.↩
  4. H. H. Kung, Chinese Minister of Finance.↩