124.93/98
The Department of State to the British Embassy
Aide-Mémoire
With reference to the Aide-Mémoire which was left with the Secretary of State on December 3, 1924, stating that the British Government would welcome the postponement of the actual execution of the decision of the Japanese Government to raise its Legation at Peking to the status of an Embassy, and suggesting that, if the situation in China shows a definite improvement, the Powers might, in due time and acting in concert, use the proposal to raise the status of their Missions in China to Embassies as an inducement to the Chinese Government to press on with the reorganization of the Administration and to afford effective protection to foreign interests, the British Embassy is informed that the Department of State at once caused inquiry to be made by the American Ambassador in Tokyo concerning the present status of this matter. He has now informed the Department that, although the Japanese Government, for domestic reasons, found it necessary to include in the budget for the fiscal year beginning April 1, 1925, an item for an Embassy at Peking, this does not necessarily mean that the Government has decided to change the status of the Mission; and that, although there has been considerable speculation on the subject, both in the vernacular press and among the public in general, the Foreign Office has as yet made no public declaration in the premises. The Ambassador is of the opinion that the action thus far taken may be construed to indicate not a present intention on the part of the Japanese Government to raise the status of its Mission in Peking, but a desire to be in a position to make such a change during the next Japanese fiscal year in case it should then deem it expedient to do so.
In view of the present indeterminate status of the matter, and of the unlikelihood of the Japanese Government proceeding further in it without consultation with the governments of the other Powers principally interested, it would appear that the present moment is somewhat premature to approach the Japanese Government in regard to it. Should the British Government, however, in the light of the situation as known to it, feel that there is occasion for urgency in dealing with the question, the Department of State would be glad to give further consideration to the matter upon being so informed.