861.77/1568: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Japan (Bell)
232. …
The Department has also been informed by a telegram from our Embassy in Great Britain dated June 1754 that the Foreign Office has been informed by its Legation in China as to the evidence which Stevens has obtained regarding the Japanese intention to gain control of the Chinese Eastern. The British Foreign Office, our Embassy reports, has stated informally that it is strongly opposed to this being done and has requested that the United States cooperate with Great Britain in this matter. In reply the Department is stating its willingness to work with the British with the idea of setting up something in the nature of an international bankruptcy commission to act as a trustee for those having an interest in the Chinese Eastern and to administer the railway in this capacity, assisted perhaps by the consortium in the matter of finances. This plan has been discussed informally with the British and we are now asking them to take the lead in securing the consent of France before taking the question up with the Japanese Government. As we have reason to know that uniting the consortium with the Chinese Eastern problem will be opposed by Japan, you are instructed to hold this information in strict confidence for the present.
- Not printed.↩