393.11/1498: Telegram
The Consul General at Nanking (Peck) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 23—10:10 a.m.]
70. My 32, February 5, 10 p.m.
1. American citizens who evacuated Nanking in consequence of the advice issued by the Consulate General on February 5 have been away more than 6 weeks and some are beginning to return on their own responsibility while others are pressing this office for some definite advice regarding advisability of return. At meeting convened March 22, 9 p.m., representative American citizens agreed with the officers of the Consulate General in the tentative opinion that there is now less probability of Chinese-Japanese hostilities in the Chinkiang-Nanking area; that negotiations for a truce may be indefinitely protracted; and that the time has come for each American organization and individual to decide upon a course of action adapted to a situation, which while still precarious, no longer has the character of a purely temporary emergency.
2. Several days ago the last naval vessel left Chinkiang and three Japanese destroyers left Nanking. Only two Japanese cruisers now remain at Nanking. Some persons attribute the departure of Japanese naval vessels from Shanghai and the lower Yangtze to the desire of the Japanese to make a good impression on the League Commission. Nevertheless, the immediate Japanese naval threat in this area has been removed and I have consented to the departure of one of the two American destroyers here. There remains the danger inherent in the presence of large bodies of miscellaneous Chinese troops between Chinkiang and Shanghai but the conclusion of the conference yesterday was that this situation as well can hardly be regarded as a temporary emergency and should be taken into consideration by American citizens individually in making more or less permanent plans for the future.
3. I informed the representatives of the American community yesterday that I wished to await the results of the Chinese-Japanese conference [Page 620] in Shanghai today before issuing any message (my advice of February 5). They assent to this. If the conference at Shanghai today makes it seem probable that there will be a prolonged deadlock between the Japanese and the Chinese with nevertheless little probability of hostilities in the Nanking Consular District, it is my intention to issue a statement to the American citizens in Nanking somewhat as follows:
“On February 5th the American Consulate General at Nanking issued a statement pointing out that fighting between the Chinese and Japanese was then continuing with undiminished intensity and that if hostilities should spread to larger areas it might become increasingly difficult to leave Nanking, should an emergency require such measures. There have been no serious hostilities in the Shanghai area since approximately March 3rd. Nevertheless, no formal truce has been agreed upon and the Consulate General would not feel justified in expressing the opinion that an entirely normal situation had been restored.
Early in February approximately 120 persons or two-thirds of the American community in Nanking left the capital. Their continued absence is the cause of considerable inconvenience to all concerned and in some cases important enterprises are seriously [apparent omission] Chinese.
Under these circumstances the Consulate General believes that each American organization and individual should decide upon a course of action adapted to the circumstances of each case, remembering that a return to Nanking at this time may be attended by the risk of having to leave again should the political situation fail to return to a normal basis.”
Repeated to the American Legation and to the American Consul General at Shanghai for the information of the American Minister.