Foreign Relations of the United States, Diplomatic Papers, 1932, The Far East, Volume IV
893.102 S/1217
The Minister in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 16.]
Sir: Referring to the Legation’s telegram No. 623 of June 6, 7 p.m., I have the honor to transmit herewith a memorandum dated [Page 86] April 20, 1932, regarding the so-called “Shanghai Defense Scheme” or, as it is officially known, “Terms of an Agreement for Combined Action in Times of Emergency by the Local Forces and the Armed Forces of Foreign Powers Stationed in Shanghai”.
This agreement appears to have been signed in December 1931, by the commanding officers of all foreign forces stationed in the International Settlement and the French Concession, as well as by the Chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Council, the Commandant of the Shanghai Volunteer Corps, and the Commissioner of Police. Although the signatures were preceded by the statement “I agree, subject to the confirmation by superior authority”, I am not aware that as far as the United States was concerned any “superior authority” was given an opportunity to express any views on the proposed scheme. The document was marked “Secret” and had never been seen by the American Consul General at Shanghai until he borrowed a copy of it at my request.
Considering the importance an international agreement of this nature may assume, and did assume in this instance, I feel very strongly that in future the officers commanding American forces in Chinese ports should receive definite instructions to submit a copy of any defense scheme which they may have occasion to sign to the nearest American consular officer, for reference to the Legation.
In this connection I also beg to enclose a memorandum58 of a conversation I had on May 24, 1932, with Lieutenant Colonel Truesdell, United States Army, who is temporarily commanding the 15th Infantry at Tientsin, in which I brought this aspect of the situation to his attention.
Respectfully yours,
Memorandum by the Minister in China (Johnson)
Shortly after his arrival in Shanghai, Colonel Drysdale, the Military Attaché, gave me a memorandum covering certain statements made to him about the character of the defense scheme at Shanghai, and the use made thereof by the Japanese for legalizing the position of their landing force at Shanghai.
I discussed this matter with Mr. Cunningham, the American Consul General at Shanghai, and after a considerable period of time during which he told me that he was promised a copy of the defense [Page 87] scheme which he referred to as “secret”, he gave to me to read a document entitled “Terms of an Agreement for Combined Action in Times of Emergency by the Local Forces and the Armed Forces of Foreign Powers Stationed in Shanghai”, which he stated was the secret agreement for the defense of the Settlement under which the several forces of the Powers had acted on January 28th. Mr. Cunningham informed me that he had never seen this scheme before, and apparently he was under the necessity of returning it to the source from which he had borrowed it, for he asked me to return it to him as soon as I had finished reading it. From the character of the document and its cover I would say that the source from which he borrowed it was British, and probably it was from the Municipal Council itself or from the British military forces.
I made the following notes concerning this document in the course of my reading:
After setting forth the responsibility of the Municipal Council of the International Settlement at Shanghai for the maintenance of order within the Settlement by using the forces at its command, namely the police and the volunteers, the agreement proceeds, under the heading “Role of Foreign Garrisons”, to state that the foreign garrisons, meaning by this term the foreign national forces landed and quartered within the Settlement, were stationed in Shanghai primarily for the protection of the lives and property of their own nationals when the situation got beyond the capacity of the local authorities to deal with.
The agreement then goes on to state that, owing to “the size of the Settlement and to the fact that foreign interests are interdependent, and foreign nationals and property are scattered over the whole area, any attempt to limit the action of individual foreign garrisons to the protection of their own nationals and property alone would lead to undue dispersion and loss of efficiency”, and lays down the following as having been agreed to in order that there might be coordinated action between the foreign garrisons, and between them and the municipal forces, for the attainment of “a common object”.
The common object of the foreign garrisons and the municipal forces
is defined in the agreement in the following language:
The agreement then proceeds to divide the International Settlement [Page 88] and its vicinity into sectors, the commanders of which shall be responsible for assisting the police of the municipality to maintain “law and order for the protection of foreign lives and property within the limits of their respective sectors”.
Provision is made in this agreement, however, whereby all defense forces may be mobilized by the Chairman of the Defense Committee in any particular area specially threatened. The Defense Committee was composed as follows according to Appendix “A” of the agreement:
“Chairman: the senior Garrison Commander in Shanghai. Members: Chairman Shanghai Municipal Council, Commissioner Shanghai Municipal Police, Garrison Commanders, Commandant Shanghai Volunteer Corps.”
The agreement provides further that the following may be invited to attend the meetings of the Defense Committee when concerned, and alternatively indicates that they possess the right to attend if they desire: Commandant French Forces, and a representative of each national naval force present. The Chief Staff Officer of the senior Garrison Commander is designated as Secretary to the Defense Committee.
This Defense Committee is charged by the agreement with the responsibility of deciding when the plan for combined action would come into force.
The scheme provides, however, that no proceedings of the Defense Committee shall prejudice the rights of any Garrison Commander to communicate and consult with his national counselor and naval authorities present, nor prevent his independent action should he consider such necessary to conform with orders from higher authority. In case of independent action, it is provided that such Garrison Commander will at once inform the Chairman of the Defense Committee.
The agreement provides that “for the purposes of tactical employment under the combined plan, the Shanghai Municipal Council have agreed to place the Shanghai Volunteer Corps under the orders of the officer commanding the British forces in Shanghai.”
The scope of the agreement is described therein as:
- a)
- The combined plan is primarily intended to deal with grave internal disturbances when the local authorities cannot without assistance give adequate protection to foreign lives and property.
- b)
- Such a situation may arise by itself, or it may precede or
combine with another from outside by:
- 1)
- Chinese Government troops involved clearly in an anti-foreign movement;
- 2)
- Chinese troops engaged in civil war;
- 3)
- Semi-organized mobs actuated by communistic or similarly lawless motives;
- 4)
- Organized infiltration of any of the above categories.
Perimeter.
The agreement then proceeds to describe the perimeter of the area in which the combined plan applies, in the following words:
“(Excl.) Central sewage treatment works; (inch) Paoang Road, Dixewell Road to Settlement Boundary, eastward along Settlement boundary to Glenn Road—creek running northeast from end of Glenn Road to Chunkung Road—Chunkung Road—Settlement eastern boundary—Whangpoo River to junction International Settlement and French Concession—western boundary French Concession to junction of Avenue Haig and Avenue Joffre—Fahwah Road (new name Amherst Avenue)—Shanghai-Hankow Railway to Soochow Creek railway bridge—Soochow Creek to Tibet Road bridge—line of block houses and gates to junction of north Honan Road and Settlement boundary—north Honan Road to Woosung Railway—Woo-sung Railway to Hongkew Park—Hongkew Park.”
The agreement then proceeds to state that the “perimeter” “is the line through which no forces, mobs, or individuals likely to threaten the safety of foreign lives and property will be allowed to pass from the outside.”
The plan for describing the several sectors assigned to the different nationalities proceeds to describe cases of special protection outside the perimeter in the following words: “In addition to the sectors of responsibility given in Paragraph 4—(a) Officer commanding British sector will be responsible for the protection of the Toyoda Mill, situated 700 yards west of Jessefield Park; (b) Pootung. Special arrangements will be made by the Defense Committee should it become necessary at any time to employ garrison forces to protect foreign lives and property in Pootung.”
The agreement was signed by the commanding officers of the several national military forces landed in the International Settlement in Shanghai, and also by the Chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Council, the Commandant of the Shanghai Volunteer Corps, and the Commissioner of the Shanghai Municipal Police, with the following statement appended: “I agree, subject to the confirmation by superior authority, to the foregoing provisions for combined action in and around the International Settlement of Shanghai.” It was signed by the Colonel of the French forces in so far as the arrangement for cooperation between the forces of the French and the International Settlement was concerned.
It was noteworthy that the above agreement apparently had never been communicated to the American Consul General at Shanghai, who represents the American Government at Shanghai in so far as [Page 90] concerns the policy of the American Government in relation to the International Settlement at Shanghai, although the agreement was signed by Colonel Hooker, Commandant of U. S. marines landed for the purpose of protecting American life and property at Shanghai.
It is further noteworthy that the policy of this agreement, namely, to arrange for the combined use of the forces landed by the several nations at Shanghai for the protection of lives and property within the International Settlement and “its vicinity”, and the agreement’s announced purpose “to defend the International Settlement and the French Concession against external aggression”, and the defining of a perimeter “through which no forces, mobs, or individuals likely to threaten the safety of foreign lives and property will be allowed to pass from the outside”, which included Chinese territory outside the boundary of the International Settlement, involved the obligation—at least morally—to use the national forces of the United States at Shanghai for purposes quite contrary to the announced policy of the United States Government in connection with the Settlement.
While it is true that the Commanding Officer of the American landing force at Shanghai signed the agreement subject to approval of higher authority, there was no indication to him that any attempt had been made to communicate this plan or its purpose to the American Consul General at Shanghai, or by him to the Department of State for its approval.
It is believed that this plan was drawn up after the beginning of difficulties between the Chinese and Japanese on September 18, 1931, when presumably the responsible authorities at Shanghai were aware of the possibility of difficulties between the Chinese and Japanese at Shanghai which might involve the Settlement, and yet this agreement announced that any attempt to limit the action of individual foreign garrisons to the protection of their own nationals alone would lead to undue dispersion and loss of efficiency; and it proceeded to divide the area which was to be defended under the scheme into sectors, and assigned the sectors to the different landing forces including the Japanese, the nationality most likely to be involved in any difficulty at Shanghai.
It will be recalled that, shortly after the middle of January, 1932, the Japanese made certain demands upon the Mayor of Shanghai and issued an ultimatum to the Mayor, that unless a satisfactory reply to those demands was forthcoming by the evening of January 28th, the Japanese would take such measures as seemed necessary to enforce their demands. On the night of January 27th the Japanese moved their flagship to the front of the Japanese Consulate, and on the morning [Page 91] of January 28th the Japanese Admiral informed the members of the Defense Committee that he proposed to take forceful action on the morning of January 29th.
The American Consul General who, it must be remembered, had no information as to the contents of the defense scheme which I have outlined above, informed me by telegram dated January 28th, 2 p.m., that he had learned on reliable authority that the Japanese military intended to take action on the morning of January 29th and that this information was confirmed by the Secretary of the Municipal Council (who presumably had knowledge of the defense scheme above outlined), who informed Mr. Cunningham that he had been asked by the Japanese staff officer “whether, in the event of prolonged Japanese occupation of Chinese territory contiguous to the Settlement, Settlement police would undertake policing thereof”.
The Defense Committee described above in connection with the defense scheme at Shanghai met on the morning of January 28th with these facts in their possession, and with knowledge that the situation at Shanghai was tense because of the activities of the Japanese—one of the members of the Defense Committee—and requested the Municipal Council to declare a state of emergency as of 4 p.m. on January 28th. The effect of such a declaration on the part of the Municipal Council was to put the agreement above outlined into effect, and start the arrangements necessary to put the landing forces upon the defensive along the perimeter therein described.
At 3 p.m. on January 29th the Mayor of Shanghai communicated his complete acceptance of the Japanese demands to the Japanese Consul General, who communicated it to the foreign Consular Body. This communication was accepted by the Consular Body as an indication that all was well and that nothing further would happen. Nevertheless, at 4 p.m. a state of emergency was declared by the Municipal Council, and some time near midnight on the night of January 28th the Japanese landing forces, proceeding to occupy the sector assigned to them within the perimeter of the defense scheme, came into conflict with armed Chinese forces which had every right in the world to be in that area and who had no knowledge of the terms of the defense scheme which had described such a perimeter, and the Shanghai incident of January 28th was in full swing. The Japanese then and since have stated that they were engaged in fighting the battles of the other foreigners at Shanghai, in defending those foreigners against acts of aggression by the Chinese military, and that they should have received the support of the other foreign powers in what they did.
- Not printed.↩