Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1919, Volume I

893.51/2567: Telegram

The Ambassador in Japan (Morris) to the Secretary of State

Tokyo, December 2, 1919, 7 p.m.
[Received December 3, 11 a.m.]

Your November 29, 1 p.m. The following is the substance of the British proposals as contained in Mr. Alston’s⁴⁸ memorandum to the Japanese Government dated October 9:

• “1. That the Japanese, British, American and French groups should, with the official support of their Governments, and without delay, make an immediate loan (not exceeding £5,000,000 sterling) to China.
• 2. That it should be made without prejudice to the conditions which may be basis of future loans or to discussions now proceeding respecting the exclusion from the scope of the consortium of specific areas.
• 3. That the loan should be secured on the demand [surplus?] of salt revenue and be applied solely to meeting the urgent needs of China.
• 4. That two conditions would be attached to the loan, namely (a) that the negotiations between the Northern and Southern parties should be resumed without delay; and (b) that a large number of unnecessary troops should be disbanded, including those of the War Participation Bureau and those raised for the purpose of the expedition into Mongolia.
• 5. That the four Governments and the four groups should control the proceeds of the loan and the disbandment of the troops in question.”

The following is the reply of Viscount Uchida,⁴⁹ dated October 11th.⁵⁰

“The Imperial Government are in receipt of the British Minister’s memorandum dated October 9th, 1919 on the subject of financial assistance to China. According to their memorandum, it appears to be the intention of the British Government to submit later certain proposals to the Governments concerned on this subject. The Imperial Government, however, consider it useful to give expression to their views at this juncture upon the substance of the proposals of the British Government.

The Japanese Foreign Minister is happy to be able to reply that the purport of the proposals set forth in the British Minister’s memorandum under acknowledgment is in substantial agreement with the plan now under contemplation by the Imperial Government. As regards, however, the two points enumerated in [subhead?] (b) of paragraph 4 and in paragraph 5 of the said proposals, namely (1) that a large number of unnecessary troops should be disbanded including those of the War Participation Bureau and those raised for the purpose of the expedition into Mongolia and (2) that the four Governments and four groups should control the disbandment of the troops in question, Viscount Uchida desires to offer the following observations:

While it is believed that these two points have been overcome [introduced?] out of sympathetic consideration for the interests of China and that, in the future course of development of affairs in China, circumstances may arise in which the powers concerned may be obliged to give serious consideration to the question of the disbandment of troops and the control of the process, the proposition to make the disbandment of troops and its control a condition of the projected loan to China does not seem to the Imperial Government either to be reconcilable with the policy embodied in the joint representation made by the five Powers on December 1 [2] last year to leaders of the North and South of China⁵⁰ or to be free from the charge of intervention in China’s domestic affairs. It is in fact stated in the terms of the said representation that ‘in taking occasion to express their earnest sympathy with the efforts of both sides to achieve a solution of the difficulties that have hitherto divided them, the Governments of France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan and the United States desire to make clear that in so doing, they have in contemplation no intervention.’ Questions such as the disbandment of the war participation army are most assuredly among the thorny problems with which the peace conference of the North and South is confronted, and in the face of the unmistakable terms in which the five Governments declared that they then had no intention of interfering with the proceedings of the conference, the Imperial Government find it difficult to signify their readiness to concur in the proposal departing from that declaration on account of the present loan question. Moreover, when reduced to a practical issue, the disbandment of troops necessarily involves the expenditure of a considerable amount of money. The number of so-called necessary troops is not known to the Imperial Government, but [it] is reckoned that a huge sum would be required in order to effect such disbandment. Assuming that the proposal now under review for a loan of not exceeding £5,000,000 was based upon the proposed loan of $24,000,000, which in response to the request of the Chinese Government is now being considered by the four groups, it would be abundantly clear that such a loan would leave no margin available for the purpose of the disbandment of troops. In these circumstances, it is hoped that the British Government would submit this particular point to their further consideration.”

Morris

48. Sir Beilby Francis Alston, British Minister in Japan.
49. Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs.
50. The quotation is not the whole text of the memorandum.
50. Foreign Relations, 1918, p. 134.