Office of the Historian

493.11/1656

Memorandum by the Minister in China (Johnson) of a Conversation With the Consul General at Mukden (Myers)22

Peiping, November 19, 1932.

Mr. Myers and I discussed the question raised in his despatch No. 690 of November 16, 1932,23 in regard to procedure which the Consulate General at Mukden should pursue in aiding American claimants to obtain redress for losses suffered in the course of Japanese occupation of Manchuria.

Mr. Myers pointed out that Department’s instruction of March 18, 1932,24 which discouraged any intercourse between the Consulate General and the new Manchukuo régime then coming into being, had prevented his taking any action in presenting claims directly to organizations set up by the new regime for handling claims. He pointed out that all claims had been presented to Japanese Consulate on theory of primary Japanese responsibility, and that Japanese Consulate had transferred them to organization created by Manchukuo. He said that there was some intimation that new Manchukuo Claims Commission might fail to notify Consulate of any steps immediately to be taken for examination, adjustment, and settlement of claims, as Consulate had not recognized it.

We agreed that Consulate General should inform all American claimants of any information which might come to it directly or indirectly as to procedure to be adopted by Manchukuo Claims Commission in settlement of claims, with the suggestion that such claimants—either themselves or through their authorized attorneys—make contact with the Claims Commission in question for the purpose of settling claims.

We also agreed that the Consulate General should keep in touch with the Japanese Consulate General in Mukden with whom claims were originally filed, for the purpose of learning of any steps that might be taken by Japanese or by Manchukuo authorities for their settlement.

Nelson Trusler Johnson
  1. Copy transmitted to the Department by the Minister in China in his despatch No. 1824, November 23, 1932; received December 19.↩
  2. Not printed.↩
  3. See telegram No. 88, March 18, 6 p.m., to the Minister in China, vol. iii, p. 601.↩