893.24/5–547
Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Chinese Affairs (Ringwalt) to the Director of the Office of Far Eastern Affairs (Vincent)
[Washington,] May 5, 1947.
In view of the repeated requests from Chinese Government representatives, both in China and in the United States, for the granting of an export license to cover the shipment to China of 7.92 rifle ammunition, [Page 832] it is believed desirable to approve such a request for the following reasons:
- 1.
- Complete withholding of ammunition from the Chinese Government might impair the defensive effectiveness of its armies vis-à-vis the Chinese Communist forces. In this connection, the Embassy at Nanking has recently reported the loss by explosion of two National Government ammunition dumps, and there are indications of local Communist successes in Shansi and Shantung Provinces. There is also the important question of National Government military strength in Manchuria, where its lines are extended and the Communist forces are reported to be gaining strength.
- 2.
- The approval of the request for export license and the transfer under surplus property arrangements to the Chinese Government of 130 million rounds of 7.92 rifle ammunition, now stored in U. S. Army depots would not be inconsistent with the President’s statement of policy of December 16 [18], 1946. This statement described the transfer of surplus property in China and in the Pacific to the Chinese Government under the Surplus Property Agreement of August 30, 1946, and said that “no weapons which could be used in fighting a civil war were made available through this agreement”. This agreement was concluded during the period of American mediation, which has since been terminated. A transfer through sale to the Chinese Government of ammunition would not now appear to be inconsistent with public statements issued by the U. S. Government regarding U. S. policy toward China. The ammunition in question is in the United States, is useless to the U. S. Army, deteriorates with time and requires U. S. Army maintenance and storage. In reply to press inquiries which such a transfer would raise, it could be stated that this transfer does not represent a change in policy but is merely a case of a foreign [government?] purchasing surplus ammunition in the United States and not a matter of the U. S. Government’s extending aid to that government.
- 3.
- It would appear to be logical that we permit the Chinese Government to purchase military supplies from manufacturers in the United States now that American mediation has been terminated, since to deprive it of access to private manufacturers in this country would be difficult to defend in the light of U. S. policy elsewhere in the world at this time and in the light of the Chinese Government’s position as the legally recognized government of China. Furthermore, this access to American markets might tend to lessen Chinese demands for ammunition, if the Chinese Government knew that it would have to pay cash for such matériel rather than obtain it as a gift from the U. S. Government.
- 4.
- It would appear psychologically sound to take such action at this time. The Chinese Government has now been reorganized and, while we have had no indications of the effectiveness of this reorganization, we cannot wait until there is definite proof of improvement. The reorganization is at least a step in the right direction and, in the absence of any other immediate action to show our approval, the granting of export license for this ammunition might be taken as a sign of our approval, in principle, of the reorganization.
A[rthur] E. R[ingwalt]