861.77 Chinese Eastern/724: Telegram
The Minister in Latvia (Coleman) to the Secretary of State
[Received 2:15 p.m.]
104. Department’s circular telegram of December 1, 4 p.m. I have today received the following aide-mémoire, dated December 20, from the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
“The Estonian Government has given the most careful consideration to the conditions now prevailing in Manchuria and to the issues over which the [Union of] Socialist Soviet Republics and China are at present in controversy.
Cooperating with all its energies in every action directed towards the consolidation of peace, the Estonian Government warmly welcomes the statement communicated by the Government of the United States to China and the Socialist Soviet Republics in order to call the attention of the two powers in controversy to the fundamental principles of the Treaty for the Renunciation of War.
The Estonian Government greatly appreciates the procedure adopted by the Government of the United States to uphold the principle of peaceful settlement of international disputes; it has the utmost confidence in the results of such procedure and is convinced that it cannot but be received with gratitude by the signatories of the Kellogg Pact.
In the meantime, however, the Governments of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics and China have entered upon negotiations for a peaceful settlement of the conflict that now seems to come to an end by means which are in harmony with the provisions of the Pact of Paris.
Considering the changed situation the Estonian Government has come to the conclusion that, the results which it seeks in common with the United States in the application of the principles established in the Pact of Paris having been achieved, there may be no advantage in issuing at the present moment by the Estonian Government on its part a statement similar to that communicated by the Government of the United States to the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics and China.”