893.824/18
The Secretary of State to the French Ambassador (Claudel)
Excellency: I have the honor to refer to your note of October 11, 1932, and to the Department’s acknowledgment thereof of October 25, 1932,56 with regard to the question of mooring the American and French flagship cruisers at Shanghai.
The Department has now been informed by the Navy Department that the proposal contained in your note of October 11, 1932, was declined last July by the Commander-in-Chief of the United States Asiatic Fleet, after consultation with the American Minister to China. The Commander-in-Chief was of the opinion that there could be no change in the position of the French and American naval buoys without reference of the matter to the Chinese authorities and that an attempt to put into effect the proposal of the Commander-in-Chief of the French Naval Forces in the Far East would weaken the strength of the present united demand for a suitable rearrangement of the man-of-war buoyage at Shanghai.
After having given careful consideration to the proposal contained in your note, the Navy Department concurs in the view of the Commander-in-Chief of the United States Asiatic fleet.
Accept [etc.]
- Neither printed.↩