42 2443
(THIS TELEGRAM IS OF PARTICULAR SECRECY AND SHOULD BE RETAINED
BY THE AUTHORISED RECIPIENT AND NOT PASSED ON]
[CYPHER]
WAR CABINET DISTRIBUTION
FROM: CHINA
FROM CHUNGKING TO FOREIGN OFFICE
Sir H. Seymour
No. 1745
30th December, 1942.
D. 8.00 p.m. 30th December, 1942. R. 1.00 a.m. 31st December, 1942.
ddddddd
218
IMMEDIATE
Your telegram No. 1641.
I assumed that Minister for Foreign Affairs appeal
217 reported in my telegram No. 1736 would not change your view,
and I therefore informed him to-day that you were not prepared to go beyond exchange of notes on the lines I had already described to him.
2. Minister for Foreign Affairs said that he would report to his Government but did not think they would feel able to proceed on these lines. The Chinese would strongly object to matter being postponed until after the war. Could we not omit this? No time limit need be fixed for discussions and they might fail, but they ought not to be postponed till after the war. I said it was useless to suggest this; His Majesty's Government were not prepared to go any further than they had offered to do.
3. I left with the Minister for Foreign affairs, as a purely personal suggestion, draft for an exchange of notes contained in my immediately following telegram. He already had most of this from notes made by Chinese negotiators during previous talks and it seemed best that he should have the sense at any rate, correct. I made it clear that [grp. undec.?exact] wording had not been approved.
4. Minister for Foreign „ffairs again avoided direct statement that the Chinese would not sign the treaty without promise of return of leased territory. I pointed out that from Chinese point of view it was surely a grave mistake to reject a settlement so favourable to them owing to this one point.
O.T.P.
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