893.01 Manchuria/274½
Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Castle)
The Chinese Chargé read me a telegram which he had just received from his Government. He said that he believed the same instructions had been sent to other missions. The telegram stated that the Chinese Government had repeatedly protested to Japan concerning the creation of the so-called state of Manchukuo, which state China believes is entirely the creature of Japan; China has also repeatedly told Japan that it would be held responsible for anything that happened in Manchukuo; the Japanese Diet has now recommended recognition of Manchukuo (as a matter of fact, no action has been taken by the House of Peers); the Chinese Government believes that recognition of Manchukuo would be contrary to the terms of the Nine Power Treaty and plans shortly to make a public statement giving its reasons for this belief.
I asked Dr. Yen in what manner this statement would be made, whether merely to the press or to foreign nations or to Japan, but Dr. Yen had no knowledge on this point. I asked him why the Chinese Government wished us to know the content of the telegram. He said it was because China believed that the vote in the Diet was intended to bring about an expression of world opinion on the subject of Japanese recognition of the new state; he said he thought that Japan would wait to see what the reaction of the world was likely to be and that, if strong representations should be made to Japan, it might save [Page 82] the day. He asked me whether I thought we would make such representations. I reminded him that the Chinese Government had not asked us, in his instructions, to take this step although I agreed with him that the instructions perhaps implied such a request. I said that we were, of course, very much interested in developments in Japan along this line and that we were quite alive to the situation; I said that it was impossible for me to indicate in any way what action we should take, if any, but that we were studying the whole question of whether or not recognition on the part of one of the signatories would be a breach of the Nine Power Treaty; I told him also that it seemed to me nothing could be done precipitantly, since if the different nations should agree that the act would be in derogation of the treaty, it was clear that the only effective pressure to be brought would be a common pressure; I said the only thing he could say to his Government in answer was that we were glad to have the message and that this Government was fully alive to the whole situation.