Mr. Wu to Mr. Bay.

My Dear Mr. Secretary: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the Department’s note of the 18th of August last, relating to the extension of the Chinese exclusion acts by the military authorities to the Philippine Islands. I read with not a little surprise that the regulations under which the military authorities have prohibited the entrance of Chinese into the Philippine Islands have been in operation for nearly a year, for this is the first time that my attention has been called to any order issued by the military authorities on the subject. I shall be much obliged if you will kindly furnish me with a copy of Major-General Otis’s order of September 26, 1898, to which Mr. Adee refers in his note, together with a copy of the regulations providing for the admission of certain classes of Chinese into the islands.

Very truly, yours,

Wu Ting-fang.