393.11/1009
The Consul General at Hankow (Lockhart) to the Minister in China (MacMurray)76
Sir: I have the honor to refer to the Legation’s circular telegram of February 20, 1929, in which it was stated that the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the National Government had informed Mr. Perkins that it was the definite policy of the National Government to restore to the owners all foreign property occupied by Chinese civil or military authorities wherever located, and to state that during the past month numerous cases of the occupancy by Chinese soldiers of American mission property have been brought to the attention of the Consulate General. This recrudescence of the violation of American property by Chinese soldiers has been particularly noticeable in Honan Province, where, it is understood, there are many troops under the command of General Tang Seng-chi. During General Tang’s rule in the Hankow area the occupation of mission property was very general. The practice has become very annoying and almost intolerable to American mission enterprises, many of which feel that with the culmination of internecine warfare there is no longer the least excuse for the occupation of their property. All of these cases have been reported by me to the respective Commissioners of Foreign Affairs and efforts are being made to have the properties vacated. A separate despatch is being sent to the Legation concerning recent cases of occupation.
In this connection, I wish to state that I believe that the assurances given to Mr. Perkins by the Nanking authorities last February77 have been utterly valueless, so far as this consular district is concerned, and it is quite possible that the present system of depending on the Nanking authorities to have foreign property vacated has been equally ineffective in other consular districts. I now offer for the Legation’s consideration as an alternative to the present plan or to supplement it, the suggestion that the Legation request of the National Government a [Page 466] number of proclamations, bearing the chop of the Commander in Chief of the Army, Navy and Aerial Forces, forbidding the occupancy of American property by Chinese soldiers. Such proclamations could be issued in blocks and sent to the consulates in China concerned with this problem and by them distributed to the American properties in need of protection. This method would have the very great advantage of tending to prevent the occupation by troops of the National Government of American property rather than to obtain repossession after Chinese soldiers had occupied and damaged the property.
I am somewhat strengthened in my belief that this procedure would meet with the favor of the National Government, if that Government is sincere in its desire to prevent depredations by soldiers, by the fact that the local Commissioner of Foreign Affairs under date of June 14, 1929, transmitted to this office a number of proclamations, chopped by the Commander in Chief of the Army, Navy and Aerial Forces, for the use of foreigners going to Kikungshan, Honan, for the summer months. The proclamation, a copy of which is attached,78 translates as follows: “Foreigners enjoying their summer vacations must be afforded protection; private dwellings must not be occupied”. I believe that if the Legation can obtain from the National Government proclamations, similar to the one enclosed, for posting on American property in the interior of China, they will serve very effectually in freeing such property from occupancy by Chinese soldiery and may, in many instances, prevent future occupancy. If the Nanking authorities should agree to this suggestion it would be well for the proclamations to be phrased in more emphatic terms than is the case with the proclamations issued for the foreign residents of Kikungshan.
Since the above was written I have obtained from the Commissioner of Foreign Affairs at Hankow four proclamations bearing the chop of General Chiang Kai Shih79 forbidding the occupation of private property in Hupeh Province by Chinese troops. One of the proclamations is enclosed herewith, together with a translation.80
I have [etc.]
- Copy transmitted to the Department without covering despatch; received October 25, 1929.↩
- The reference is apparently to Mr. Perkins’ conversation with the Chinese Minister for Foreign Affairs on January 17, reported in his memorandum dated February 18, p. 436.↩
- Note on file copy reads: “[Attached] to original only.”↩
- Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek.↩
- Note on file copy reads: “Attached to original only.”↩