793.94/1403
The Secretary of State to the Japanese Chargé (Saburi)
Memorandum
The Secretary of State is happy to acknowledge the receipt of the memorandum of December 27, 1922, in which the Japanese Chargé d’Affaires communicated the fact that his Government would gladly agree to the cancellation of the correspondence of November 2, 1917, between Mr. Lansing and Viscount Ishii, if that course should be preferred by the American Government, and in connection with a reference to the particular degree of concern in the affairs of China which Japan feels by reason of the relative geographical situations [Page 599] of the two countries, confirmed the fact that Japan has in view no claim to special rights or privileges prejudicial to China or to any foreign nation.
In view of the more recent and authoritative formulation of principles and policies with respect to China, arrived at in the Washington Conference and incorporated in the conclusions of that Conference, it appears to the American Government that it would be desirable to remove any possibility of ambiguity arising from the phraseology of the Lansing–Ishii notes; and the Secretary of State accordingly agrees that the two Governments should consider the Lansing–Ishii correspondence of November 2, 1917, as cancelled and henceforth of no further force or effect.