893.51/2275: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in France (Wallace)
8704. Your 891 of June 21, 12 p.m.
The statement that the principles of the American proposal of July 10 last “were cordially accepted by the Japanese Government” is scarcely correct. The record shows that the Japanese Government has as yet made no definite formal commitment on this point, although the new plans have been approved by certain high officials.
The Japanese financial representatives, however, are definitely committed in principle by their signature of the resolutions and agreements of May 11 and 12 last.23
Would it not be advisable in discussing the question with the Japanese delegates to place the emphasis upon the practical and economic side of the question rather than the political, pointing out that the note of November 2, 1917,24 to which they refer states specifically that both the United States and Japan “are opposed to the acquisition by any Government of any special rights or privileges that would affect the independence or territorial integrity of China or that would deny to the subjects or citizens of any country [Page 457] the full enjoyment of equal opportunity in the commerce and industry of China,” and that this agreement therefore can not be made the basis of a claim for exclusive commercial and industrial rights and options in Manchuria or elsewhere in China.
- Draft agreement of May 12, p. 439; resolutions, p. 435.↩
- Foreign Relations, 1917, p. 264.↩