The China White Paper 1949 (IX)

In 1943, the US on top of relinquishing the extraterritorial rights in China, also repealed the Chinese Exclusion Acts. On December 17, 1943, the US President Roosevelt signed an Act that removed the long-standing legislation that discriminated against Chinese. An annual Chinese immigration quota was established, and as such Chinese could be naturalized as American citizens. According to the White Paper the purpose of this act was to give "additional proof that [the US regards] China not only as a partner in waging war but . . . as a partner in days of peace"1 In 1943, on two occasions, the US recognized the status of China as one of the Great Powers. One occasion was, on the insistence of the US, China was "included as a signatory, together with the UK, the USSR, and the US, of the Declaration of Four Nations on General Security, signed in Moscow on October 30, 1943 which recognized the right and responsibility of China to participate jointly with the other great powers in the . . . establishment of machinery for post-war international operation". One implication of this decision was that China became one of the sponsoring Powers of the UN Conference met at San Francisco in 1945 and later China was granted a permanent seat in the Security Council. The other occasion took place on December 1, 1943 when Chiang Kai-shek was invited to participate in the Cairo Declaration.2 (to be continued)

Notes:
1.United States, Department of State. The China White Paper-August 1949. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1967, page 37.
2. Ibid., page 37.