893.00 Nanking/35: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in China (MacMurray)
127. A note has just been received from the British Ambassador in which he stated that his Government accepted the form of demands which the Department telegraphed to you. The following statement is also contained in the note:
[Here follows a quotation from note No. 225, April 5, 1927, from the British Ambassador, printed supra, beginning with the words “2. In agreeing to the omission of a time limit in the formula (b)” and continuing through the penultimate paragraph of the note.]
The Department completely dissents from the statement in the Ambassador’s note that in agreeing to omit a time limit in formula (b) the British Government does so with the understanding that in principle the other powers accept the application of sanctions should the Nationalist Government refuse to give satisfaction to the demands made upon it. No implied agreement of any sort exists to this effect. The British Ambassador, in fact, presented to me a memorandum45 in which it was stated that his Government reserved its opinion as to sanctions, and you will recall that in my instructions on the subject to you I also reserved, in behalf of the American Government, all opinion with respect to sanctions. That the American Government is under no obligation to use sanctions and is not ready as yet to confer on the subject with the other powers should be made perfectly clear.