Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1940, The Far East, Volume IV

893.01/617

The Chinese Ambassador (Hu Shih) to President Roosevelt⁵⁵

Aide-Mémoire

1. General Chiang Kai-shek acknowledges the receipt of the letter of the President of the United States, dated November 9 [10], 1939,⁵⁶ and the telegram of the President,⁵⁷ transmitted by the American Embassy, in reply to his telegram of December 19, 1939,⁵⁸ and thanks the President for the same.

2. General Chiang feels deeply grateful to the President for persuading sometime ago the Premier of the French Republic to maintain an attitude of consistent and continuous assistance to China with regard to transportation facilities over Indo-China, and is happy to inform the President that conditions have now somewhat improved.

3. General Chiang hopes that the President will, after the expiration of the American-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation of 1911,⁵⁹ use his best efforts to curb Japanese aggression and render all assistance possible to China, as General Chiang had intimated in his letter⁶⁰ brought in person to the President by Dr. W. W. Yen. General Chiang also hopes that, especially as China’s finances will meet with increasing difficulties with the approach of February, the President will see his way to render immediate financial assistance to China.

4. General Chiang wishes to inform the President that the text of the secret treaty entered into by Wang Ching-wei and the Japanese, as published in Hongkong on January 22, is strongly supported by external evidence and, as far as his knowledge goes, is absolutely authentic.

5. With the publication of the Wang-Japanese secret agreement, General Chiang earnestly hopes that the United States Government, or the President himself, will in one form or another make known publicly and solemnly the attitude of the United States, as hitherto consistently maintained, as regards this matter and the proposed new puppet government which Japanese machinations have been busily engaged in making. In General Chiang’s opinion, such a declaration will not only raise the morale of the Chinese people, soldiers and civilians alike, but will also serve as a great blow to Japanese militarist ambitions, thereby contributing in no small degree to the benefit of Chinese resistance and the general situation in the Far East.

Washington , January 26, 1940.

55. Handed to President Roosevelt on January 27 by the Chinese Ambassador in company with W. W. Yen.
56. Foreign Relations, 1939, vol. iii, p. 714.
57. See telegram No. 245, December 29, 1939, 7 p.m., to the Ambassador in China, ibid., p. 720.
58. See communication of December 19, 1939, from Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek to President Roosevelt, ibid., p. 717.
59. Signed at Washington, February 21, 1911, ibid., 1911, p. 315. For notice of termination, see Department’s note of July 26, 1939, ibid., 1939, vol. iii, p. 558.
60. See Generalissimo Chiang’s letter of July 20, 1939, ibid., p. 687.