861.77 Chinese Eastern/41: Telegram

The Minister in China (MacMurray) to the Secretary of State

591. My 585, July 18, 3 p.m. Local press published the following from Tass News Agency, dated Moscow, July 18: [Page 213]

“The People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs of the U. S. S. R. has handed to the Chinese Chargé d’ Affaires at Moscow, Mr. Hsia Wei-sung, the following reply to the note of the Nanking Government of July 17:

‘Confirming the receipt of your note of July 17th, [containing] the answer of the Chinese Government at Nanking to the note of the U. S. S. R. Government of July 13th, I have the honor to advise you on behalf of the Government of the U. S. S. R. of the following:

The Government of the U. S. S. R. considers the reply of the Chinese Government as unsatisfactory in content and hypocritic in tone.

Desirous of reestablishing the legal basis of the relation[s] between the U. S. S. R. and China, which have been disturbed by the Chinese authorities, the Government of the U. S. S. R. has advanced in its note of July 13 three absolutely necessary and perfectly moderate proposals:

1.
The cancellation of one-sided and entirely unlawful actions of the Chinese authorities on the Chinese Eastern Railway, which are violating the existing relations between the U. S. S. R. and China;
2.
The cessation of repressions against Soviet citizens and Soviet institutions;
3.
The convocation of conference by both sides to regulate all questions connected with Chinese Eastern Railway.

The Chinese Government, in its reply to the proposal of the U. S. S. R., has essentially rejected these proposals.

Instead of the restoration of the Peking and Mukden agreements, which has [have] been abolished by one-sided action of the Chinese authorities, and retaining the basis for neighborly relations, the note of the Chinese Government sanctions the one-sided abolishing of this agreement and thereby destroys the possibility of normal relations between two states.

Instead of reversing the unlawful actions of the Tupan of the Chinese Eastern Railway, who has violently removed from office official persons appointed by the administration and by request [nomination?] of the U. S. S. R., the note of the Chinese Government sanctions these unlawful actions, justifying thereby the seizure of the Chinese Eastern Railway.

Instead of the discontinuation of the unlawful repressions against Soviet citizens and Soviet institutions, the note of the Chinese Government sanctions these repressions and hypocritically attempts to justify them by the false reference to some mass repressions against Chinese citizens in the U. S. S. R., being well aware that repressions in the U. S. S. R. are being applied only against an insignificant group of spies, opium traders, den keepers, smugglers, and other criminal elements among the Chinese citizens.

Instead of a direct agreement for an immediate convocation of a conference by two sides to regulate all controversial questions, the note of the Chinese Government evades this question, rejecting thereby the proposal of the U. S. S. R. for a conference and destroying the possibility of regulating the dispute by agreement of two sides.

[Page 214]

The reference of the note of the Chinese Government to propaganda as the cause of the unlawful actions of the Chinese authorities is false and hypocritic, for the Chinese authorities possess on their territory sufficient means to prevent and to stop such activity, had it actually taken place, without seizing the Chinese Eastern Railway and severing the treaty relations existing between China and U. S. S. R.

The real reason for the violent actions of the Chinese authorities on the Chinese Eastern Railway and the sanctioning of the violence by the Chinese note of July 17th becomes particularly clear from the official declaration of the head of the Chinese State, Chiang Kai-shek, published in the press. In this declaration, Mr. Chiang Kai-shek, speaking of the unlawful actions of the Chinese authorities on the Chinese Eastern Railway and justifying these actions, plainly declared: “Our steps are designed to take the Chinese Eastern Railway. Our hands contain nothing unusual—we want first to take hold of the Chinese Eastern Railway, then to take up the discussion of all the questions.” This statement of Mr. Chiang Kai-shek leaves no doubt as to the real meaning of the note of the Chinese Government of July 17th.

In view of the above, the Government of the U. S. S. R. notes that the means necessary to regulate amicably the controversies and disputes on the Chinese Eastern Railway, caused by the Chinese authorities and aggravated by the note of the China [Chinese] Government of July 17th, have been exhausted.

On the basis of the above facts, the Government of the U. S. S. R. is compelled to take the following measures, placing the entire responsibility for the consequences upon the Chinese Government:

1.
To recall all Soviet diplomatic, consulate [consular] and commercial representatives from the territory of China.
2.
To recall all persons appointed by the Government of the U. S. S. R. on the Chinese Eastern Railway from the territory of China.
3.
To suspend all railway communications between China and the U. S. S. R.
4.
To order [invite?] the diplomatic and consular representatives of the Chinese Republic in the U. S. S. R. to leave immediately the territory of the U. S. S. R.

At the same time, the Government of the U. S. S. R. declares that it reserves all rights arising from the Peking and Mukden agreements of 1924. Karakhan.’”

MacMurray
  1. Telegram in seven sections.