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Chenia July 31, 1946 Background on Situation in China (based on remarks of Acting Secretary of State at press conference, June 28, 1946) The policy of the United States for more than 50 years has been that there should be a free and unified China. We have never wavered from that policy. We are completely per- suaded that one of the primary causes of the last war -- certainly of the war in the Far East was the attempt of the Japanese to destroy the existence of a free and inde- pendent China. That had consequences which were very great for us, which brought great suffering and loss to us as well as to China. It is thus well established that a cardinal principle of American policy is that China should be aided in every way to attain the status of a free, united and TREHAN democratic nation, which her people desire. ARCHIVES SERVICE' 'NATIONAL RECORDS AND In addition to our traditional policy, the entire international structure which we hope to see realized calls for the existence of such a China as I have described. China takes a leading role in the United Nations. It is difficult to see how that organization could function success- fully if China were not able to play her part. At the end of the war, Japan had been defeated in her effort to gain control of China. When the war came to an end there were over a million and a half Japanese troops in China