793.94/1974: Telegram
The Minister in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
697. Following telegram has just been received from the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs in Nanking dated October 3d:
“The Chinese Government has the honor to inform Your Excellency that in its view events of the next 12 days during which the Japanese Government is expected by the Council of the League of Nations to complete the withdrawal of its troops to the railway zone in terms of the Council’s resolution of September 30th, will have the most far-reaching consequences for the effective maintenance of peace and the present status [of] the Chinese in the Far East.
On its part the Chinese Government has undertaken before the League’s Council to assume responsibility for the safety of the lives and property of Japanese nationals outside the railway zone during the process of withdrawal of Japanese troops and the reestablishment of Chinese local authorities and police forces.
The difficulties of this task are immeasurably increased by the situation created by the Japanese action which has violently disturbed the machinery of central control in Manchuria. Every day brings fresh incidents such as aerial attacks on trains, disarming of isolated Chinese units, imposing of Japanese military authorities on various localities, et cetera.
Your Excellency is aware that the Council of the League resolved, in the absence of any unforeseen occurrences which might render an immediate meeting essential, to convene at Geneva on Wednesday, October 14th, in order to consider the situation as it then stands, and that information with regard to the development of the situation is awaited not only from the Chinese and Japanese Governments but also from other members of the Council.
Under all the circumstances as stated, the Chinese Government has requested the diplomatic representatives in this country of those powers which are members of the Council of the League to send individual representatives to Manchuria to collect information on the progress of evacuation and all relevant circumstances for the information of the Council. In view of the fact that the United States of America is one of the signatories of the Treaty for the Renunciation of War signed at Paris in 1928 and is [as] deeply interested as the other powers in the effective maintenance of police [peace?] in the Far East, I have the honor to request that the United States take immediate steps to be likewise represented and that information collected by your representatives on the movements of Japanese troops in Manchuria be transmitted to your Government and the general public by telegraph.
On its side the Chinese Government will do its utmost to give all facilities to the representatives of Your Excellency in this most important task. The Chinese Government would be grateful if the present request were considered to be of the extreme urgency. General Chang Hsueh-liang has been instructed by the National Government to take [Page 112] all the measures to help your representative[s], and the Chinese Government will be grateful if Your Excellency would communicate to him the names of your representatives.
Chinglun Frank W. Lee, Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs, October 3d.”
- Telegram in four sections.↩