893.113/1270: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in China (Johnson)
370. Your telegram 927, October 23, 7 p.m.
1. The Department desires that you address the following note to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
“I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency’s note of May 23, 1930,90 transmitting revised provisions of the regulations, et cetera.
“I have the honor to inform your Excellency that the note under acknowledgment and its enclosures were translated and referred to my Government. I am now instructed to inform your Excellency that it is the understanding of my Government that these regulations are not intended to apply to importations of military equipment and munitions designed for the use of the Governmental agencies of the American Government in China. I am instructed to add that my Government is thoroughly in accord with the desire of the Chinese Government to control the transportation of arms in order to prevent their falling into the hands of improper persons and suggests that every importation of military equipment and supplies, the property of and destined for the exclusive use of agencies of the American Government in China, shall be officially certified as such by the American Legation in China, the certificate thus issued to be utilized by [Page 624] the Chinese Government as the basis for issuing the necessary import and transportation permits.”
2. Unless you have comments to offer, the text should go as above or with only such changes or additions as may not be inconsistent with its general purport.
- Not printed.↩