793.94/2892
Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs (Hornbeck) of a Conversation Between the Secretary of State and the Chinese Chargé (Yen)47
Dr. Yen called and presented to the Secretary his credentials.
The conversation turned on the subject of the Manchuria situation. In the course thereof Dr. Yen stated that various Chinese official leaders placed special reliance on the Nine Powers Treaty. He said that W. W. Yen48 in particular has stressed to him the importance of that Treaty. He inquired what would be the attitude of the American Government if the question of invoking that Treaty were raised.
The Secretary of State replied that we had had most if not all of various possibilities in mind; that at the time when the trouble began the Council of the League was in session, China had appealed to the Council, the Council had taken full “jurisdiction”, and the American Government had both acted independently and given its moral support to the action taken by the League. For practical purposes there had been and there is going on a conference of the Powers. For that reason there had arisen so far no need for calling a separate and additional conference. Two conferences sitting at the same time to deal with the same question would mean weakness rather than strength. As to what would be our position if the question of invoking the Nine Powers Treaty were raised, it was our consistent practice to keep in mind the saying: “Don’t cross a bridge until you come to the river”. He felt that the representatives of the various Powers were very actively [Page 486] struggling with the Manchuria problem at Paris just now and that we should concentrate our attention on their efforts.