793.94/4142: Telegram
The Consul General at Nanking (Peck) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 12—10:55 a.m.]
48. 1. At noon today Lo Wen-kan, Minister for Foreign Affairs, sent for British Counselor and me and showed us message he had received dated February 11, midnight, from his intelligence officer in Shanghai reporting that the Japanese admiral had informed foreign military commanders that by February 14 he would have 20,000 [Page 299] soldiers, 7,000 marines and 40 naval vessels taking part in the battle with the Chinese at Shanghai. Lo asked Ingram and me to telegraph to our respective Ministers requesting that they do their utmost to prevent this accretion in strength from resulting in intensified hostilities. He said, however, that the Chinese forces would resist when the attack was launched and he informed us privately that the 19th Route Army had telephoned the Government again that they would never surrender to Japanese attack. It was arranged that Ingram should telegraph Lo’s message to the British Minister and ask that it be communicated to the American Minister.
2. Lo also expressed the hope that if intensified hostilities took place the International Settlement would not be involved but he observed that if this unfortunately occurred the Chinese could not be held accountable while they were engaged in defending their own territory. He said the Government earnestly hoped that Great Britain and France would succeed in inducing the Japanese to withdraw from Chinese territory.
3. Wang Ching-wei has left Puchen for Hsuchowfu in North Kiangsu where he will meet Chiang Kai-shek in conference.
4. Nanking is superficially quiet but there is an undercurrent of anxiety lest a decisive defeat of the Chinese forces at Shanghai may demoralize the troops forming the Nanking garrison. This anxiety is apart from the constant menace of the six Japanese naval vessels anchored here.
Repeated to Peiping, Shanghai and Tokyo.