793.94/4460: Telegram
The Consul General at Shanghai (Cunningham) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 27—9:36 a.m.]
121. Secretary of State’s letter to Senator Borah was published in full in English language press of Shanghai on February 26th and Chinese translation made by this office was published in leading Chinese newspapers February 27th. No important Chinese editorial comment has yet appeared.
2. Kuo Min News Agency published statement issued by Sun Fo and Eugene Chen regarding letter. Following is paraphrase of certain portions; most significant passage is that Nine-Power Treaty must be considered in conjunction with agreement relating to disarmament in which United States willingly surrendered its then commanding lead in battleships’ construction and left its position in Guam and [Page 455] the Philippines without further fortifications. At this moment no single power can compel Japan to honor any treaty or international obligation to which she is a party. Neither America nor England alone can compel her though she can be coerced by Anglo-American naval combination. Should this combination be impracticable this last [task?] of restraining Japan in her course of violence must eventually fall upon America and America must set about to retain her commanding lead to naval construction. On this view the eventual armed intervention of the United States in the present war is a necessity not only because America’s honor and prestige deeply involved in Japan’s contemptuous violations of the covenants of the Nine-Power Treaty and the Kellogg Pact but because the safety and security of the United States and its nationals and possessions in the Pacific are under peril by the rulers of Japan.
[Here follow quotations from the Shanghai press.]
Copy to the Minister. Repeated to the Legation.