File No. 861.00/2336
The Chargé in China ( MacMurray ) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 24, 4.58 p.m.]
Foreign Office unofficially advises me that Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs has informed Chinese Minister in Tokyo that the Allies contemplate sending Czecho-Slovaks from neighborhood of Vladivostok to western Siberia by either Amur or Chinese Eastern Railway or by both; that Japan has proposed to the United States that Allied forces cover their rear and establish patrols on the railways; that in any event the Japanese forces would establish such railway patrols and in the communication line through Manchuria would expect approval of the Chinese Government in view of the existing military convention, although forces of other nations would, of course, have to obtain the specific consent of China for that purpose. Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs professed his surprise that the Allies were not willing to rely upon Chinese protection of the railway within Chinese territory. I replied that while uninformed of the plans for the expedition I conceived it entirely possible that there was an intention to give to all phases of such military action as might be undertaken a purely international character.