CO129-619-1 Parliamentary delegation to China 1-9-1947 - 23-12-1947 — Page 147

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grounds of corruption and incompetence.

Considerable

difficulty has also been caused by the unwillingness

or inability of the Chinese Government to provide

C.N.R.R.A. with sufficient funds to perform its

functions properly.

4. By far the most contentious and troublesome

question connected with U.N.X.R.A. in China has

however been that of distribution to Communist

areas.

Under the Basic agreement with U.N.R.R.a.

signed in 1945 the Chinese Government undertook

to distribute U.N.R.R.A. supplies without political

discrimination, and the application of this

principle to those parts of China controlled by the

Chinese Communists has caused much dispute between

U.N.R.X.A. and the Chinese Government. The matter

has of course been complicated by the large scale

hostilitics which have for the past fifteen months

been waged between the Chinese Government and

Communist armies in north China and Manchuria.

Finally, after a number of incidents had occurred

the China Office in July 1947 banned deliveries

to Comunist areas, alloging Langer to staff and

deliberate obstruction by Chinese Government military

authorities in contravention of assurances given

by the Chinese Government, and the matter was

referred to the Central Committee of U.N.R.R.A. in

Washington. The Central Committee decided that

supplies destined for both sides in the war zone north of the par llel 34°N should be inpounded

provisionally while the China Office made another

attempt to get both Central Government and

Communists/

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