Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1944, China, Volume VI

893.5151/981: Telegram

The Ambassador in China (Gauss) to the Secretary of State

Chungking, January 11, 1944—noon.
[Received January 11—8:06 a.m.]

58. To Secretary of Treasury from Adler, re your 15, January 3.

1. I fully agree with your (2). Appropriate Chinese institution for consultation is Commission for Control of Foreign Exchange Assets to which Chinese staff board is being transferred. It is most unlikely that any Chinese Government body consulted in connection with type of transaction referred to in your (3) would take a stiff attitude. Presumably unless satisfactory arrangement is worked out with Chinese authorities for covering U. S. Government agencies’ fapi requirements, more liberal licensing policy referred to in your (2) would also be applied to U. S. Government agencies’ transactions. As you know, U. S. Government civilian agencies in China acting in accordance with instructions from Washington have been selling U. S. currency in black market for more than a month now while American soldiers have been financing their personal expenditures by the same means for the past 2 years.

2. Re your 1690, November 24.²⁵ British have not yet given 30 days’ notice of termination required under 1941 Sino-British agreement. Shall I submit my resignation as of January 31?

3. Your 658, May 24²⁶ and my TF–138, July 15.²⁷ Ministry of Finance has recently asked me for your reaction to Kung’s alternative plan. [Adler.]

Gauss

25. Foreign Relations, 1943, China, p. 474.
26. Ibid., p. 418.
27. See telegram No. 1200, July 16, 1943, 1 p.m., from the Chargé in China, ibid., p. 427.