793.94/4639: Telegram
The Minister in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
Shanghai, March 9, 1932—10
a.m.
[Received March 9—8:40 a.m.]
[Received March 9—8:40 a.m.]
See my March 7, 8 p.m., paragraph 4. Following from the Consul General at Nanking:
“March 8, 6 p.m.
- 1.
- Vice Minister Hsu Mo asked me to call upon him March 7, 4 p.m., and then asked that I telegraph you for the information of the Department of State in substance as follows:
- 2.
- ‘In connection with the present military situation in Shanghai the Chinese Government still consents to the negotiations provided for in the third article of the resolution passed by the Assembly of the League of Nations on March 4 but only on the basis of reservations offered by the Chinese delegate, namely, that the negotiations shall relate only to armistice and the withdrawal of Japanese forces and that such withdrawal shall be without any preliminary conditions whatsoever. The Chinese Government has reason to anticipate that Japan will attempt to exploit the recent military operations at Shanghai and that Japan is attempting to enlist the support of other nations to this end. The Chinese Government desires to make it clear that it will discuss no subject with Japan at Shanghai other than withdrawal of the Japanese forces so long as Japanese forces remain iii the invaded territory and if in spite of the position taken by the Chinese Government other subjects are raised then the Chinese Government will insist that Japanese military activities in Manchuria be discussed [Page 538] as well. The Chinese Government earnestly hopes therefore that the American Government will assist the Chinese Government to resist any attempt by Japan to enlarge the scope of the negotiations provided for in article 3 of the reservations [resolution] passed by the Assembly or to approximate the recent incidents in Shanghai, as for example, by imposing conditions to the withdrawal of the Japanese forces’”.
Johnson