File No. 893.51/1882

The Minister in China ( Reinsch) to the Secretary of State

No. 1886

Sir: I have the honor to report that when it was currently stated in the Japanese and Chinese press that Baron Sakatani, formerly [Page 142] Japanese Minister of Finance, had been appointed as adviser to the Chinese Government on currency reform, I asked the Chinese Secretary to make inquiry of the Minister of Finance concerning this matter. A memorandum by the Chinese Secretary reporting his conversation with the Minister of Finance is herewith enclosed.1

According to this reply, Baron Sakatani, although coming to China, has not yet been appointed to any office. He is coming for a conference, and should he been appointed he would have the position of general adviser to the President in financial matters. Though this may be the present situation, it is probable that the expectation is entertained that Baron Sakatani once on the ground, will surely be employed as financial adviser, and that thereupon it will be suggested, when the currency loan is negotiated, that he should act as adviser on the currency. As a matter of fact, the Japanese papers reported, upon the occasion of Baron Sakatani’s departure from Japan for China, interviews attributed to him in which he discussed the plans of the Japanese Government with respect to currency reform in China.

At my direction, the Chinese Secretary called the attention of the Minister of Finance to the existing currency loan option and the continuing interest therein on the part of the American Government.

It is highly desirable from every point of view, and necessary for the protection of the American interests in the currency loan, that before the date of the expiration of the present option, April 15, arrangements for American participation should have been completed.

I have [etc.]

Paul S. Reinsch
  1. Not printed.