861.77/866: Telegram
The Ambassador in Japan (Morris) to the Acting Secretary of State
[Received 4:18 p.m.]
In the matter of the Allied military policy in Siberia I suggest that I be authorized to submit to the Minister for Foreign Affairs a memorandum to the following effect:
“The Government of the United States agrees with the suggestion contained in the memorandum of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, April [May] 2d,12 that in order to insure harmony in the operations of the Associated troops in Siberia an understanding should be reached and a policy formulated by the powers interested for the protection of the railways in Manchuria and Siberia now operated under Allied supervision. The Government of the United States seriously doubts, however, the wisdom or expediency of attempting establish any definite zone of military action or of including at present any rivers or waterways. It would appear to [Page 563] the Government of the United States wiser simply to define such a policy in the following terms:
[‘]The Governments interested in the protection of Chinese Eastern and Trans-Siberian Railways and having military forces in Siberia agree that the use of these military forces shall be limited to the preservation of order in the immediate vicinity of the railway, its stations and trains, when those in charge so request and in the suppression of local violence by conflicting Russian forces only when such conflicts affect the dispatch of troops or operation of the railways and even then only to the extent necessary to protect the railway and those engaged in its operation.’
The Government of the United States believes that such a statement of general policy will be sufficient to guide the military commanders who will be authorized to take the necessary steps to put the policy into effect.[”]