701.9311/361
Memorandum by the Assistant Secretary of State (Johnson)
During a conversation with the Japanese Ambassador this morning the Secretary stated that some time ago the Chinese Minister stated that the Nationalist Government was very anxious to raise its legation here in Washington to the status of an embassy and desired to know whether we would be willing to reciprocate. The Secretary stated he understood that similar representations were being made to the Governments of Japan, Great Britain, France, Germany, and Italy. He said he had discussed the matter in Cabinet and that he desired to discuss it with the interested powers before making any decision. He said that so far as he could recollect the matter had [Page 203] come up once before, about five years ago, at the time when the Soviet Government had raised its legation to the status of an embassy, he believed for the purpose of increasing Russian influence in China and of making a friendly gesture to the Chinese. He recalled that at the time the question was somewhat embarrassing to the other governments but that all had decided in the negative. The Secretary recalled that the Japanese had it in mind at one time to raise their legation to the status of an embassy.
The Secretary said he had not made up his mind with regard to the matter, although he felt that it was possible such a step would be helpful to the Chinese. He felt that the present Nationalist Government offered more promise in the way of permanency and stability than any government that had appeared in China during the last four or five years and that any step which the powers could take which would aid this Government in its work of stabilizing the country was worth taking.
The Secretary said he realized that there were objections, one on the ground that the present government was not necessarily permanent. He realized that this objection was a serious one but felt that the powers would hardly be worse off if they raised their legations to embassies and the government went to pieces than they would be if they made no movement of the sort.
There was the other objection that there were many countries pressing at this country for the establishment of embassies, such as Poland and some of the Balkan States and perhaps South America; that he did not think that this was a serious objection as China in a sense stood by itself. It was a large country of great interest to the powers and could very well be treated as a case separate and by itself.
The Secretary said he desired the Japanese Ambassador to make inquiry of his government as to what attitude it would take on this question in order that he might know what their thought was, as he did not desire to act alone in the matter without consultation.
The Japanese Ambassador said he was very pleased that the Secretary was willing to consult with them in this matter, that they believed that mutual discussion would help a great deal in dealing with China. He said he would telegraph his Government and ask for their reaction. He called to the Secretary that some years ago when Mr. Shidehara was Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Japanese Government had taken the initiative in approaching the powers with a view to raising their legations to the status of embassies, but that they had met with negative answers on the part of all of them. He said they had gone so far as to arrange for the [Page 204] necessary appropriation in their budget and that subsequently the government then in power in China had crumbled and the matter had been left in abeyance ever since and the appropriation for an embassy in Peking continued to be carried in their budget from year to year. He added on his own part that he did not think his government would take kindly to raising their legation to the status of an embassy. The conversation here ended.