FO371-23517 — Page 136

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further than they had. The Ambassador had,

however, received a personal message from

Chiang Kai-shek for me expressing the hope that

H.M. Government would continue to bear China's

case in mind. I said that, while I had nothing

to add to-day to what Sir George Mounsey had

said last week, I would ask His Excellency to

inform the Generalissimo that the situation in

Europe made it impossible for us to commit

ourselves to a definite answer at present, but

H. M. Government would certainly keep the Chinese

proposals very much in mind. We were, indeed,

not at all unmindful of what was happening in

China, but what could be done was really a

question of method, opportunity and tactics.

The Generalissimo would appreciate that what

happened here inevitably reacted on the situation

in the Far East, and we hoped that our efforts to

ensure peace in Europe might have beneficial

repercussions in China in just the same way as

the activities of the Chinese armies and peoples

had a reaction on the position in Europe. I

went on to refer to President Roosevelt's

message and to the transfer of the United States

fleet to the Pacific. It was not for me, I

said, to comment on what the President, in his

wisdom, elected to do, but the Chinese

Government would be alive to the significance

of what he had done and to the indication which

it afforded that we were all working on

parallel lines.

3.

His Excellency thanked me and said he

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