793.943 Manchuria/45
The American Ambassador in Japan (Grew) to the Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs (Hirota)
Excellency: Acting under the instructions of my Government I have the honor to refer to reports that on November 1[5?] a treaty was signed with Japan ending Japanese extraterritorial rights in Manchuria and that on this account there was issued a manifesto in regard to the extraterritorial rights of foreigners other than Japanese in Manchuria. It has also been brought to the attention of my Government that the branch at Harbin of the National City Bank of New York, an American concern, has received a letter from the Department of Economics at Hsinking stating that a recently promulgated “law concerning foreign juridical persons” “naturally” applies to all foreign firms and requesting that preparation be made to register and to appoint a representative in accordance with the law. The extraterritorial rights of nationals of the United States in Manchuria are granted by treaties between the United States and China and my Government considers that the law under reference which apparently contemplates the assertion by the authorities in Manchuria of jurisdiction over American juridical persons is inapplicable to American nationals and firms. My Government therefore is impelled to register emphatic objection to any attempt by the authorities of Manchuria to exercise jurisdiction over American nationals and to make full reservation in regard to the treaty rights of the United States and its citizens.
I am directed by my Government to address the Japanese Government on this matter in view of the relationship between the Japanese Government and the authorities in Manchuria.
I avail myself [etc.]