793.003/5578/9
Memorandum by the Minister in China (Johnson)39
I called upon Sir Miles Lampson, the British Minister, this evening and told him of the statement which Dr. C. T. Wang had made to me this morning regarding an attempt by the United States Government to dissuade the British Government from going too fast in meeting Chinese wishes in the matter of extraterritorial negotiations. Sir Miles stated that he was at a loss to understand the motive behind Dr. Wang’s statement. He said that when he saw Dr. Wang on May 1st and communicated to him British Government’s answer to Dr. Wang’s final offer of April 27th he had stated under instructions from his Government that other powers and even the United States felt that British Government was proceeding too fast in the negotiations. He said that of course Dr. Wang might possibly have used his statement. I told the British Minister that while this was possible the whole trend of Dr. Wang’s statement to me had been couched in such terms as to lead me to infer that he had received his information from an informant in London or Washington. I said that I had communicated Dr. Wang’s message to my Government.
- Copy transmitted to the Department by the Minister without covering despatch; received June 11.↩