Dupe or Reality? Revisiting Chengting T. Wang’s $600 Million Loan Negotiation, 1938

Date(s)： 2025/06/12

Time： 10:00~12:00

Venue： Archives 2nd Conference Hall

Host： Prof. Joshua L. Freeman（Assistant research fellow, IMH, AS）

Speaker：Prof. Lin May-li (Associate research fellow, IMH, AS)

Disscussant： Prof. 李君山（國立中興大學歷史學系教授）

Organizer： IMH

Abstract,
During his tenure as Chinese Ambassador in the United States, Chengting T. Wang engaged in loan negotiations, including a $600 million loan attempt in 1938. At the time, this case was widely regarded as a “dupe,” leading to Wang’s dismissal. Basing on the “H. H. Kung Papers” released by the Hoover Institution in 2023, this article clarifies the contractual developments of this loan negotiation. Although the loan ultimately failed due to China’s inability to provide collateral acceptable to the banking consortium, many of the conditions proposed during the negotiations—such as adopting a commercial loan model, requiring part of the funds to be used for purchases in the United States, and establishing a Sino-American joint enterprise to manage the loan—were gradually realized in subsequent negotiations later undertaken by Kwang Pu Chen.

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