793.003/112
Memorandum by the Assistant Secretary of State (Johnson)
The Dutch Minister came to see me this morning. He asked whether there was any change in the situation regarding China. I told him there was not. I said we had received a note from the Chinese asking us to relinquish our extraterritorial rights in China similar to the one which I understood his Government had received. I stated that we were considering our reply to this note and that we had not completed our reply and probably would not complete it for some days. I told him we had received a despatch from The Hague70 reporting that the Dutch Minister for Foreign Affairs had spoken to our Minister [Page 575] regarding the note and had expressed a view that the powers having similar views on the subject in replying to the Chinese note should express their views in words that were not identic. I stated that it was our understanding that the British also held this view and I thought that we would also feel this way about the matter. The Minister said he thought that this was a very wise viewpoint as it would do away with the old idea that the powers were merely acting in concert. He stated that he hoped, however, that nothing would be done to give up the guarantees which we now had in China as to do so at this time meant that we were lost.
- Not printed.↩