793.003/11–2342
Memorandum by the Assistant Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs (Atcheson) of a Conversation With the Minister Counselor of the Chinese Embassy (Liu Chieh)
Mr. Liu called by appointment at his request at noon today. Mr. Liu referred to our conversation of November 13 and stated that the Chinese Embassy had now received from the Chinese Foreign Office a reply to the telegram which he had had sent to Chungking as a result of that conversation. With reference to the Chinese suggestion that a new article to be numbered one be inserted in the treaty to the effect that the relations between China and the United States should be “based on the principles of equality and reciprocity” and with reference to the Department’s views in the matter as I had communicated them to him orally on November 13, he stated that the Chinese Government continued to desire the insertion of such article as the question devolved upon a principle which the Chinese Government regarded as fundamental; moreover, the employment of such language in the treaty would be of assistance to the Chinese Government because it would be very pleasing to the Chinese people as a whole. In reply I went over the reasons why the Department felt that the suggested article was unnecessary and would be out of place in the treaty. In addition I mentioned again that the language suggested might be subject to misconstruction in both China and the United States and I said, as on my own, that we did not wish the treaty to pretend to be something that it was not or to imply in any way that it covered questions which were not covered; that there were a number of questions in international relations which would come up for discussion sometime; that all such questions would not be settled all at once, but must await their turn and let progress be made step by step; that I perceived no possibility of arranging for the inclusion in the brief treaty on extraterritoriality of any language which purported, or might be considered to purport, to cover matters not actually covered.
I went on to say that we had given the Chinese suggestion the most careful and most sympathetic consideration and that, in an earnest endeavor to meet Chinese wishes in any way that would be appropriate and practicable, we were in the process of drafting something in other language which I thought would probably resolve this particular question to the satisfaction of all concerned. I said further that in formulating our draft of the brief treaty we had attempted in the very best faith and in a whole-hearted spirit of friendship for China to be very generous in regard to the relinquishment of extraterritorial [Page 363] and related special rights. We had not, for example, attempted to use extraterritoriality for bargaining purposes; we had not asked of the Chinese any quid pro quo; we had asked for nothing that was not usual and normal in the modern relations between two friendly countries; I hoped that the Chinese Government had noted and would appreciate these facts.
Mr. Liu said that he understood the situation and that our attitude in the matter, he was sure, was fully appreciated in Chungking; the Chinese Embassy had done its best to explain to the Chinese Foreign Office the reasons for our attitude and the reasons which assumably lay behind that attitude.
We then proceeded to discuss, also in a purely informal and personal way, other of the modifications suggested by the Chinese and during this portion of our talk I made tentative suggestions, without commitment, in regard to the resolving of the various points along the lines already suggested to the British Government. Mr. Liu indicated that he personally was agreeable to, and pleased with, these suggestions and that he felt that they would in general be well received by the Chinese Government.
At various times throughout our conversation Mr. Liu pressed me to give him an approximate date on which the Chinese Embassy could expect to receive formally our counter-suggestions in a document in reply to that presented to the Secretary by the Chinese Ambassador on November 10 and asked twice whether such document could not be ready within a week at most. He mentioned that the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang was now in session at Chungking and that it was very desirable, from the Chinese Government’s point of view, that the draft treaty be at least agreed upon and possibly signed before the meetings of the Central Executive Committee should terminate. He said that the Chinese Foreign Office felt that if the treaty could be agreed upon before the termination of the Committee’s sessions the political benefits in China as well as in Sino-American relations would be increased. I told Mr. Liu that we were working earnestly in the matter and were ourselves very anxious to get forward with it. I mentioned that we had hoped that the draft treaty would not take long to negotiate and one of the considerations in our minds in connection with the presentation of the draft treaty was that it could, if too many details were not interjected into the matter, be handled expeditiously, leaving particularization to be covered in the later comprehensive treaty.
Upon leaving Mr. Liu gave repeated expressions of appreciation of our efforts. The conversation was extremely friendly and cordial throughout.