761.93/8–645: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant) to President Truman
344. MA–2258. The Prime Minister has asked me if I would get through to you at once the following message to you from him:
“I understand that during Dr. Soong’s negotiations in Moscow in July Russians pressed him to agree to terms which in some respects (Outer Mongolia, Dairen and Chinese Eastern and South Manchurian Railways) went beyond his interpretation of the Yalta Agreement. I am awaiting up-to-date report from Clark Kerr10 on position after resumption of Dr. Soong’s negotiations in Moscow today. But it seems possible that Dr. Soong may seek support of United States and United Kingdom Governments in resisting any attempt to stretch the Yalta Agreement.
“I would naturally like to coordinate the policy of His Majesty’s Government with that of the United States Government in this matter.
“It would be most helpful, therefore, to me to know whether, and if so in what terms, the United States Government have given guidance to Dr. Soong, or entered into any commitment to support the Chinese Government in resisting demands in excess of the Yalta Agreement; or to what extent and in what way the United States Government are in fact prepared to support them.
“In the case of Dairen and the railways the phrase about safeguarding ‘the pre-eminent interests of the Soviet Union’ is ambiguous and seems likely to lead to difficulty. Can we agree on an interpretation of it in case of need?”
- Sir Archibald J. K. Clark Kerr, British Ambassador in the Soviet Union.↩