File No. 761.94/125
Ambassador Guthrie to
the Secretary of State
No. 613
American Embassy,
Tokyo,
September 13, 1916.
Sir: Referring to my telegram of the 13th
instant, 6 p.m., upon the subject of the Russo-Japanese Convention, I
have the honor to transmit herewith, for the Department’s confidential
information, copies of the Foreign Office note6 and memorandum in question.
I have [etc.]
[Inclosure—Memorandum]
The Department of Foreign
Affairs to the American
Embassy
The Department of Foreign Affairs has submitted to its careful
examination the communication which his excellency the American
Ambassador, under instructions of his Government, was so good as to
make on August 21, on the subject of the convention signed between
Japan and Russia on July 3 last.
In reply to the question raised in that communication the Imperial
Government desires to assure the American Government that the new
convention is in no sense designed to repeal or to modify the
provisions of Article 2 of the convention concluded between Japan
and Russia on July 31, 1907. Nor have the Imperial Government
entertained for a moment any intention to depart from the policy to
which they have avowedly committed themselves respecting the
maintenance of the independence and territorial integrity of China
as well as the principle of equal opportunity for the trade of all
nations in that country. On the contrary, they are as strongly
convinced as ever of the usefulness of that policy in the interest
of the general peace and stability in the Far East, which they have
always very near their heart.
Department of Foreign Affairs,
Tokyo, September 13, 1916.
