706.6193/2: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Minister in China ( Schurman )
145. Your 209, June 30, 11 a.m. Department’s telegram No. 144, July 9, 3 p.m.,77 will have indicated to you the Department’s feeling that the property of the former Russian Legation should be turned over to the Russian representative upon his request for possession.
The Department however approves the stand taken by the Diplomatic Body in refusing to transfer the property at the request of the Chinese authorities. In view of the abnormal situation arising out of the fact that the Legation Quarter has been set aside by the Boxer Protocol for the joint use and control of the Legations in such manner as to insure its defensibility, the Chinese Government can claim no voice in the disposition of the property beyond determining who is to be recognized as the representative of Russia in China. The Chinese Foreign Office may be informed accordingly.
- Not printed.↩