Office of the Historian

793.94/2060: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Consul General at Nanking (Peck)

Washington, October 13, 1931—11 a.m.

88. For the Minister: Legation’s 747, October 12, 4 p.m., and Consul General’s October 10, 6 p.m., to Legation, transmitted therein.

The following is the text of the statement given to the press on October 11, 1931 for publication:

“On October 9, 1931, the Secretary of State sent to the American Consulate at Geneva,36 for communication to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations, a message as follows:—

I believe that our co-operation in the future handling of this difficult matter should proceed along the course which has been followed ever since the first outbreak of the trouble fortunately found the [Page 176] Assembly and Council of the League of Nations in session. The Council has deliberated long and earnestly on this matter and the Covenant of the League of Nations provides permanent and already tested machinery for handling such issues as between States members of the League. Both the Chinese and Japanese have presented and argued their cases before the Council, and the world has been informed through published accounts with regard to the proceedings there.37 The Council has formulated conclusions and outlined a course of action to be followed by the disputants; and as the said disputants have made commitments to the Council, it is most desirable that the League in no way relax its vigilance and in no way fail to assert all the pressure and authority within its competence towards regulating the action of China and Japan in the premises. On its part the American Government acting independently through its diplomatic representatives will endeavor to reinforce what the League does and will make clear that it has a keen interest in the matter and is not oblivious to the obligations which the disputants have assumed to their fellow signatories in the Pact of Paris as well as in the Nine Power Pact should a time arise when it would seem advisable to bring forward those obligations. By this course we avoid any danger of embarrassing the League in the course to which it is now committed.”

Repeat to Tokyo.

Stimson
  1. Telegram No. 73, October 9, 1931, 6 p.m., ibid. p. 17.↩
  2. For minutes of the proceedings, see League of Nations, Official Journal, December, 1931, pp. 2265–2274; 2279–2285; 2289–2293; 2307–2309.↩