893.00/11113: Telegram
The Minister in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 23—6:35 a.m.]
738. Referring to your 272, August 15, 11 a.m., paragraph (7). I telegraphed the substance of the Department’s instructions to the Commander in Chief and to the Consul General at Hankow.
In reply I have heard from Admiral McVay to the following effect:
The menace against Hankow in the winter of 1926–1927 was from recognized Government forces, but now it is recognized as communistic. American naval forces at Hankow and those of other powers are acting in concert in order to effect the evacuation of foreigners there. In the event of communist attack, such evacuation would be necessary to remove foreigners from the danger of the gunfire of foreign naval vessels. Our naval vessels will take whatever measures are needed for the protection of the lives and property of Americans and other foreigners. It is not contemplated to employ American naval vessels either to protect or to regain the Hankow foreign concessions or to police them for the purpose of preventing the entry of Communists or other lawless elements. American naval vessels will act as may be deemed necessary at the moment to protect American nationals.
Please refer to Fleet General Order No. 3–29, dated September 30, 1929, paragraphs (7) c, d, and e.85
I concur in the Department’s suggestion that measures for the present situation do not need to be restricted to the steps necessary for evacuation and that, in the event of attack, participation in measures for the protection from ravaging and irresponsible armed forces of American and other foreign lives and property might be warranted.
[Here follows quotation of the above-cited provisions from Fleet General Order No. 3–29.]
[Page 176]The reply from the Hankow Consulate General, dated August 21, 5 p.m., was to the following effect:
Reference the Legation’s telegram of August 18. It is not planned for nationals to leave Hankow other than as a last resort, but they are to assemble (see Consulate’s August 11) at concentration points. A landing force is to protect the Consulate during the concentration and while the foreigners are being transferred therefrom to ships; and should such a course appear necessary, protection as practicable will be afforded to foreigners in general. The present plans of the American naval forces contemplate American cooperation with foreign naval forces in distributing ships along the river water front, in evacuating foreigners from Wuchang, and generally in protecting foreign lives. Secondary consideration will be given to American property.
It would appear that the measures to be taken and the extent to which American lives and property may be protected depend upon the size of the American armed forces on hand. The general principles as outlined in the Legation’s circular No. 7 apparently might well be applied to Hankow under the circumstances stated in the Legation’s telegram of August 18. There has not come to the Consulate’s attention any official or press objection to the foreign armed forces at present concentrating at Hankow.
I concur in the statement by the Department of the difference between the situation existing in 1926–1927 and that which now menaces foreigners along the Yangtze. However, I still feel the instructions to be sufficiently broad as to permit the American naval forces to deal with whatever situation may foreseeably arise in the Yangtze Valley. These instructions permit ample American cooperation with the armed forces of other nations which are interested in protecting foreigners against the attack of marauding bands. I feel that the quotation from Fleet General Order No. 3–29, above, amply illustrates this.
I am still of the opinion that, in view of the conflicting interests both at Hankow and elsewhere in China, to go beyond these instructions now would be calculated to involve the United States in plans and undertakings in which it had no interest.