793.94/11548
Memorandum by the Secretary of State
The Ambassador of China87 came in upon his own request. I inquired about conditions and developments in China, and he replied that they were quite bad and that the Chinese Army, after leaving Shanghai, had not been able to rally and make a firm stand, even when it got back in front of Nanking; that it was probably not the purpose to defend Nanking seriously on account of the disadvantageous surroundings.
The Ambassador then said that China was somewhat like Belgium in the World War, insofar as the friendly interest and cooperative attitude of the other nations were concerned, and that his Government, being desirous of fighting on for an indefinite time, was extremely interested to ascertain what is the general attitude of the nations towards helping China in the event she undertakes to fight on and to resist to the last. I replied that, frankly, I had nothing new on that subject, and added that the Ambassador, of course, knew the state of mind of the people of this country towards the situation in China, [Page 774] but that I could not say anything new on the other subject to which his chief inquiry related. He said that the Generalissimo was not disposed to make peace for one reason that it would simply be giving that much away instead of having it taken by force, and that on the other hand the Japanese were very desirous of peace. I asked him whether the German Ambassador, who visited the Generalissimo on this mission, knew or conveyed any terms for the Japanese, and he replied that the Ambassador did not know nor convey the Japanese terms to the Generalissimo; that he was simply seeking a preliminary step on the part of China which would lead to negotiations.
The Ambassador said that the Generalissimo had left Nanking and would probably go some three hundred miles to a place not in the direction of Hankow, somewhere on a branch of the Yangtze River. He stated that the Chinese troops were in better shape than the present surface appearance of the situation in front of or about Nanking would indicate, and that they could and probably would make a better showing beyond Nanking.
The Ambassador again came back to the question of supplies and armaments, stating and reemphasizing that it was a matter of great difficulty for resistance of the guerilla type without reasonable supplies. He stated that, officially, the French Road through Indo-China prohibited transportation of supplies, but that, unofficially, they were permitting some things to go over the road. He said that the British had done fairly well in facilitating the purchase and transportation of military supplies to China.
The Ambassador frequently came back to the question of aid if the fighting were to go on as the Generalissimo desired it to go on. I again said to him that there had been no new developments on that subject since our previous conversations.
- Chengting T. Wang.↩