Memorandum from Secretary of State Dean Acheson to President Harry S. Truman, with Attachment

DEPARTMENT OF STATE WASHINGTON October 20, 1949 MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT Subject: British Naval Convoy at Shanghai Reference is made to our conversations of October 10 and 13 with respect to the report that the British Navy was prepared to escort British vessels "bound for Shanghai and the territorial waters in the mouth of the Yangtze". In response to our inquiry a reply has now been received from the British Foreign Office, and a summary of the instructions which have been issued to the British Navy in this regard is attached for your information. It will be noted that, in general, the British Navy is prepared to extend full protection to British Merchant vessels as long as they are outside the territorial waters of China, but that protection will be extended to British merchant vessels within the territorial waters of China only in the event of an actual attack or bombing and then only if the ships are not "in confined waters which are Communist dominated". The British Embassy has informed the Department that no indication has been received from the Foreign Office with respect to the date that these instructions were put into effect but that a further inquiry in this regard has been sent to London. It would appear unlikely, however, that there has been any convoying on a large scale in view of the fact that only two British flag vessels are known to have entered Shanghai since the port closure order without clearance from National Government authorities, the EDITH B. MOLLER and the LEONG BEE, both of which were detained for extended periods on their departure by the Chinese Navy. NATIONAL DLCLASSIFIED ARCHIVES AND WITH This (E) E. O. 11652, Sec. 3(E) and 2-7-25 5(D) or RECORDS SERVICE" Dept. of State NARS Date 9-10-76 By NLT-HC