793.94 Commission/637: Telegram
The Minister in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 12—4 a.m.]
Lo Wen-kan came to see me on the evening of the 10th. He was bitter over the speech of Simon at Assembly meeting. He said he realized the League had no force to exercise judgment but all China asked was that it be given a judgment; backed by moral judgment of the League China would do her feeble best to obtain execution with her own efforts. As long as he was in office and as long as he had a voice to influence Government policy he would not agree to any settlement which would legalize what Japan had done in Manchuria or the separation of Manchuria from China in Asia; China would continue to resist; China was growing in strength; time was on China’s side, Japan had lost the friendship of the world and was losing strength; time was against Japan. He said that so far as China was concerned there would be no conciliating which involved the loss of Manchuria or the legalization of Japan’s actions. He stated that there was no parallel between the situation in Manchuria and the situation in Shanghai. In the latter case China had agreed to the terms proposed in order to protect the International Settlement and to retain the good will of the powers whose interests in Shanghai were jeopardized.