841.85/10–2049
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Acting Deputy Director of the Office of Chinese Affairs (Freeman)
Mr. J. F. Ford, First Secretary of the British Embassy, called this afternoon on Mr. Sprouse87 and myself and showed us a confidential telegram which had just been received from the Foreign Office in reply to the Embassy’s request for further details with regard to the instructions which had been issued to the British Navy on the above subject. Although a copy of the telegram was not left with us, the gist was as follows:
The scale and method of naval assistance summarized in our previous telegram [see memorandum from FE to the Secretary of October 18, 1949]88 do not go beyond that previously offered by the Royal Navy to British merchant vessels affected by the Chinese Government [Page 1154] closure order. The spirit of our attitude has, however, been modified recently with Ministerial approval. Following the closure order, British shipping was advised that control of the entrance to the Yangtze by the Nationalists was complete and no encouragement was given to British ships to enter. The successful entrance of the three Isbrandtsen ships led to fresh inquiries from British shipping and caused a review of the previous assessment. Consequently, British shipping interests were informed on October 1 that experience had indicated that the closure of Shanghai was not in fact complete. These interests were also informed that attempts to enter Shanghai would not embarrass the British Government although ship owners would have to decide for themselves whether voyages were to be attempted.
Mr. Ford stated that the Embassy had no additional information with regard to the instructions to the British Navy and had not received any indication of the exact day on which those instructions were issued.