862i.01/185a
The Secretary of State to the Japanese Ambassador (Shidehara)
Excellency: In proceeding this day to the signature of the Convention between the United States and Japan with respect to former German Possessions under a Mandate to Japan, I have the honor to state that if in the future the Government of the United States should have occasion to make any commercial treaties applicable to Australia and New Zealand, it will seek to obtain an extension of [Page 600] such treaties to the mandated islands south of the Equator, now under the Administration of those Dominions. I should add that the Government of the United States has not yet entered into a convention for the giving of its consent to the Mandate with respect to these islands.
I have the honor further to state that it is the intention of the Government of the United States, in making conventions, relating to former German territories under mandate, to request that the governments holding mandates should address to the United States, as one of the Principal Allied and Associated Powers, duplicates of the annual reports of the administration of their mandates.
Accept [etc.]