493.11/1614: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Minister in China (Johnson)
88. Your No. 305, March 5, 11 a.m.8 Department is of the opinion that in the premises the presentation of American claims by the Consul General at Mukden either directly to the Merchant Debt Adjustment Commission or to the Japanese Consulate General for transmission to Adjustment Commission would constitute an apparent acquiescence in the assumption by the hew government of authority to act for the old government. The Department therefore disapproves of both of these courses of action and requests that you so inform Consul General Myers.
It is possible that, as a matter of expediency, American claimants, after being informed of the Department’s attitude as indicated above, may elect to file their claims directly with the Adjustment Commission. To such a procedure the Department would express neither objection nor approval. In this connection, if American claimants so desire, the Department authorizes the filing in the Consulate General of copies of claims and the endorsing upon the original of such claims, under consular signature and seal, of a notation to the effect that a copy of the claim has been deposited in the Consulate General.
The American Government looks to the Japanese Government for the settlement of American claims arising as a result of the recent Japanese military activities in Manchuria, and the Consul General at Mukden may continue to present claims of this category directly to the Japanese Consul General at Mukden.
In this connection the Department desires that you keep in touch with your interested colleagues and keep the Department informed in regard to the attitude of their Governments on this question.
- Not printed.↩