893.00/1–2745: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in China (Hurley)
150. For your information in connection with our statement issued January 23 in regard to Communist-Kuomintang relations,43a we have for background guidance to members of the press endeavored to explain away some misunderstandings and unintentional misinterpretations regarding the statement. We have made it clear that the statement was occasioned solely by an inquiry from one of the correspondents; that we had no “recent” information regarding the course of negotiations; that there were no “ulterior” motives prompting the statement. With regard to the phrase “good offices” we have explained that it was used in a general rather than a technical sense.
Correspondents and press in general have expressed themselves as favorably impressed with the statement, considering it timely and appropriate.