125.4612/169: Telegram

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

[Paraphrase]

485. My 457, June 8, 5 p.m.

(1)
Consul Hanson’s despatch from Harbin along the same lines enclosed a photograph of the counterfeited seal of the Harbin Consulate which is an imitation of small metal seal for sealing envelopes.
(2)
During the raid on the Soviet Consulate General at Harbin, an attempt was made to burn papers, documents, etc., but the police extracted from a kitchen stove a Soviet code book, which was burned at the edges. Two counterfeited American seals were found in it, and they were copied so well that Consul Hanson does not believe they could have been executed in Harbin. He was shown the code book and also indirectly received word that the Soviet authorities would, officially or unofficially, approach him in an effort to convince him that “White” Russians had planted the seals because they desired to cause trouble between the Soviet and the United States. Hanson has wired me that, while the Harbin Russian press did mention the seizure, so far no Soviet official has mentioned, either directly or indirectly, the matter of the seals to anyone belonging to the American Consulate. In the same book which contained the imitation consular seals there were found also counterfeited Japanese seals.
(3)
Although there is no evidence concerning the use to which these seals were put, Hanson says they were probably employed in repealing mail which had been opened and in dispatching Soviet and/or communistic mail matter sent under the guise of United States or Japanese consular correspondence.
(4)
Having possession of these seals for illegal purposes is a crime under Chinese law, to which Soviet consular employees are subject. The Harbin Chinese authorities are aware of this, but it is a question whether they would prosecute the case without being pressed by the Consul to do so. Hanson requests the Department’s telegraphic instruction as to what action, if any, he should take in the matter.
MacMurray