861.77/2342: Telegram
The Ambassador in Japan (Warren) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 6—6:42 a.m.]
410. Your no. 205 of November 29, 6 p.m. Caldwell sends following, dated December 3, 9 p.m.
“Immediately upon the receipt yesterday of Embassy’s no. 3 of November 30, 5 p.m., which transmitted the Department’s telegram of November 29, 7 [6] p.m., I communicated the contents of your telegram to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Today I will confer on the same subject with him again. He said that there is no foundation for the rumors and that to thus seize the railway would necessitate military measures which the Far Eastern Republic is not strong enough to attempt even should there be such an encroachment. A disastrous war might result from such an attempt. I believe that there are no grounds for the rumors as regards military seizure of the railway by the Far Eastern Republic. The Minister for Foreign Affairs did state, however, that his Government is conducting negotiations with China for joint operation of the Chinese Eastern. He did not tell me the operating plan or the nature of the negotiations.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Minister told me his views on the subject of placing the railway under international control. In a few days he will give me in writing a statement which will cover the entire subject. Before doing so he will confer with Moscow by telegraph. He says this is necessary as the rights of the former Russian Government, including those to the Chinese Eastern, have passed to the Soviet Government. I will report the statement in substance by telegraph.[”]