793.003/653: Telegram
The Ambassador in Great Britain (Dawes) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 1—4:09 p.m.]
127. Your 110, April 30, 5 p.m., has been discussed with the Foreign Office where I was informed that copies of the latest telegraphic instructions to Lampson as to this question are being telegraphed to the British Ambassador, who is to convey a summary of their contents to you.32
I understand, briefly, that the British Government state that they are unable to consent to fixing a time limit to surrender jurisdiction in the Shanghai International Settlement and that Lampson has been instructed further, concerning the general subject of the reserved areas, to point out to the Chinese Foreign Minister the impossibility of discussing the matter until Chinese negotiations with other powers reach such a stage as to permit these other powers also to be brought into the discussions.
I am confidentially told that the present instructions to Lampson permit him, as a last resort, to yield in regard to Hankow.
- The British Chargé communicated this summary, with a covering note (neither printed), to the Secretary of State on May 3, 1931 (793.003/658).↩