File No. 15077.
The Acting Secretary of State to the Chinese Minister.
Washington , August 22, 1908 .
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note No. 9 of the 13th instant, in which you request, in consequence of the absence of treaty and diplomatic relations between China and the Republics of Chile and Ecuador, that the American diplomatic and [Page 61] consular officers in those republics may be allowed to exercise good offices in behalf of the Chinese subjects resident therein.
In reply I have the ho-nor to say that I have taken pleasure in instructing the American ministers at Santiago and Quito to take under the protection of their legations Chinese subjects and their interests in Chile and Ecuador and to issue appropriate instructions in the premises to each of the American consular officers in those countries.
Accept, etc.,