893.24/8–147
Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Chinese Affairs (Ringwalt) to the Deputy Director of the Office of Far Eastern Affairs (Penfield)
In the course of a conversation with Dr. Shao-Hwa Tan, Minister of the Chinese Embassy, yesterday afternoon, he stated that his Government urgently required ten million rounds of M–2 .50 caliber aircraft machine gun ammunition and asked whether such ammunition could be purchased from United States Government stocks, if possible from stocks surplus to our needs. He said that his Government was reluctant to place an order with a private firm because of the necessary time lag. He added that it was his understanding that a similar approach had been made to our Ambassador at Nanking.
I said that Ambassador Stuart had been approached on the subject (reference Nanking’s 1629, August 1), copy attached.45 I said that the Chinese Government was, of course, at liberty to purchase ammunition from private firms in this country, but that my authority did not extend to assisting the Chinese Government in the purchase of ammunition from Government sources. I said that nevertheless I would refer his inquiry to my superiors and would inform him when a decision had been reached.
It is recommended that if we can avoid doing so we make no reply to the Chinese Embassy for the present. If we are pressed for a reply we might say that for the time being this Government does not have in stock any ammunition surplus to its needs.
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