861.77/3494: Telegram
The Minister in China (Schurman) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 24—8:55 a.m.]
199. My 175, June 13, 5 p.m. and 184, June 17, 4 p.m. Japanese Chargé d’Affaires has communicated to me following English translation of note which he has addressed to Chinese Minister for Foreign Affairs in reply to latter’s note of June 16.
“I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 16th instant in which Your Excellency states in reply to the Japanese Minister’s note of June 7th that inasmuch as the agreement between China and Russia in regard to the Chinese Eastern Railway deals only with problems that concern the two parties alone and which it is indisputably within their rights to settle between them, the Chinese Government cannot recognize the reservation made by the Japanese Government in this matter.
The substance of your note having been communicated to my Government, I am instructed further to state to Your Excellency that although the reservation concerning the Japanese rights and interests in regard to the Chinese Eastern Railway is a matter of course hardly calling for a specific declaration on their part, the Japanese Government deem it none the less advisable to invite the attention of the Chinese Government to that phase of the matter in order to avoid the possibility of any unnecessary difficulty arising in future in this connection.”