Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Address of the President to Congress December 4, 1917

File No. 893.00/2700

The Secretary of State to the British Ambassador

memorandum

The Department of State has received from his excellency the British Ambassador a memorandum dated September 3, 1917, stating that the Japanese Embassy in London has communicated to the British Government a memorandum concerning the internal political situation in China and advocating the support of the Central Government by cooperative measures among the Allied Powers. The Department of State notes that His Britannic Majesty’s Government have given adherence to the policy outlined in the Japanese Ambassador’s memorandum.

A memorandum apparently similar to the one communicated to the British Government by the Japanese Ambassador in London has been handed to the Department of State and that Department is disposed to favor in principle the proposals of the Imperial Japanese Government as set forth in its memorandum. Furthermore, the Department of State suggests that the principal Powers at war with Germany ought at once to confer together and agree upon the best method of supplying to the Central Government of China the effective support to which the memorandum of the Imperial Japanese Government refers.

Department of State,
Washington , September 6, 1917.