740.00119 FEAC/7–2149

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Chief of the Division of Chinese Affairs (Freeman)

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In the course of a conversation today with Mr. Tsui,1 I brought up the question of the admission of Pakistan and Burma to the FEC which, I stated, has been under consideration by the member governments for almost eighteen months. I pointed out that the U.S. had a certain implied responsibility in this matter as “host government”; that the Department had transmitted notes to the other member governments of the FEC seeking their agreement to the admission of [Page 803] Pakistan and Burma; and that to date, all the governments addressed had indicated their agreement with the exception of the USSR, Philippines and China who had so far failed to inform the U.S. of their positions in the matter. I stated further that the Department had recently instructed Minister Clark2 in Canton to take up this question with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Canton in an endeavor to elicit a favorable reply on this proposal. I also requested Mr. Tsui to discuss this matter with Ambassador Koo who might then be in a position to expedite action in this matter by the Chinese Government.

Mr. Tsui assured me that he would discuss the question with his Ambassador and that the Embassy would then telegraph its recommendations to Canton.3

  1. Tswen-ling Tsui, Chinese Counselor of Embassy.
  2. Minister Lewis Clark represented the Embassy in China; telegram Telcan 457, July 15, 6 p. m., not printed.
  3. The Chinese Ambassador on September 3 informed the Department that his Government agreed to admission of the two countries. The Philippines replied affirmatively on August 3.