896.01 Manchuria/501
The Chinese Chargé (Yen) to the Secretary of State62
Sir: I have the honor to inform you that I am instructed to deliver to you the following note from my Government:
“The Chinese Government has the honor to invite the attention of the American Government to the serious situation precipitated by Japan’s announcement on September 15, 1932, of her recognition of the so-called Manchukuo, an organization created, maintained and controlled by Japan in the Three Eastern Provinces of the Republic of China, and by the publication of what purports to be a treaty between Japan and her puppet organization, whereby Japan may station troops in these provinces at her free will and thus attempts to establish a virtual protectorate over that part of China’s territory. This latest act of aggression on the part of Japan adds a most damaging link to the chain of international delinquencies perpetrated by her during the last twelve months which consist not only in usurpation of China’s sovereign rights, but in continuous violation of international treaties of the most important character, including the Nine Power Treaty concluded at Washington in 1922, to which the American Government is a signatory party.
“It need not be recounted how Japan started her invasion of Manchuria on September 18, 1931, how she has since extended her military operations over a territory inhabited by thirty million Chinese, and how she has used sheer force in usurping the administrative powers of the Chinese Government and establishing a bogus administration in an area she has unlawfully occupied. All such facts are but too well known to need recapitulation. Suffice it to say, from September 18, 1931, when the Japanese troops opened their premeditated attack on Shenyang (Mukden) until the present time, not a day has passed without Japan aggravating her wrong by one act or another. The series of crimes of which Japan is guilty have now culminated in her recognition of the so-called Manchukuo.
“Japan has attempted to deceive the world by advancing the ridiculous argument that the so-called Manchukuo was brought into existence by Chinese citizens who desired to secede from the Republic of China. Undeniable facts show that the bogus government in Manchuria is the product and tool of Japanese military aggression pure and simple. A great number of Japanese who are directly responsible to the Government at Tokyo are dictating matters to the puppet organization, where masses in Manchuria are under the constant oppression and intimidation of the Japanese militarists. When the Japanese troops are withdrawn from Manchuria the so-called Manchukuo would vanish completely.
“By Article I of the Nine Power Treaty, the contracting powers other than China agree inter alia to respect the sovereignty, independence [Page 256] and territorial and administrative integrity of China. There is not the slightest doubt that Japan’s recognition of her own puppet organization and all her previous actions so methodically performed in pursuance of her policy of aggression in Manchuria constitute a direct violation of China’s sovereignty as well as her territorial and administrative integrity. It was with the view to preventing such a state of affairs as has now been brought about by Japan that the powers entered into engagements above referred to.
“Japan is now not only victimizing China but deliberately defying world opinion and setting at naught the solemn obligations she owes to the other powers. It cannot be conceived that Japan’s actions should be permitted to go unchallenged and that the Nine Power Treaty should be treated by those powers which have subscribed to its engagements as a mere scrap of paper. The principle of the sanctity and inviolability of international treaties is at stake. When about four hundred thousand square miles of the territory of the Republic of China have been seized by the Japanese military forces and when Japan has given her official sanction, against the advice and admonitions of friendly powers, to the unlawful organization she has created in that territory, the painful consequences are not confined to China alone but the peace of the world is ominously threatened.
“In view of these circumstances, the Chinese Government considers that a grave situation has arisen which involves the application of the stipulations of the Nine Power Treaty and, therefore, in accordance with Article VII thereof communicates its full and frank views to the Governments of those powers which are parties to that treaty with the request that such measures be taken as will properly and effectively deal with the state of affairs brought about by Japan’s acts of aggression in China, beginning with the attack on Shenyang (Mukden) on September 18, 1931, and culminating in the recognition of her puppet organization on September 15, 1932.”
Accept [etc.]
First Secretary
- In acknowledging this note, the Secretary of State replied on September 26: “Your Government’s note thus communicated is being given the Department’s thought.”↩