703.94 Advisory Committee/62
The Department of State to the British Embassy6
Referring to the British Embassy’s informal and confidential inquiry of December 7:
The American Government informed the Secretary General of the League of Nations that the views of the American Government with regard to the principle of non-recognition remain unchanged; that the American Government believes that it will be readily possible for it to proceed in substantial accordance with the measures designed to give effect to the principle of non-recognition of “Manchukuo” which are set forth in the circular (C. L. 117(a). 1933. VII Annex)7 drawn up by the Advisory Committee appointed by the Assembly of the League of Nations to follow the situation in the Far East;
That, however, the American Government is of the opinion that the procedure with regard to “Manchukuo” accessions to “Open Conventions” recommended in the circular of the Advisory Committee is neither essential in the existing circumstances nor entirely free from objections from the point of view both of practicability and of policy; and that:
With regard to the procedure to be followed in reference to the control of the traffic in narcotic drugs, the Advisory Committee, in making its recommendations, has apparently considered only the [Page 479] Geneva Opium Convention of 1925.8 The United States is not party to that Convention. However, its laws prohibit the exportation from the United States or its territories of “any narcotic drug to any other country” unless the importing country is party to the Hague Opium Convention of 19129 and its Final Protocol and has adopted the safeguards prescribed by that Convention. Hence the Advisory Committee’s recommendation in this connection cannot under existing laws be adopted by the United States.
The American Government doubts whether the procedure suggested by the Advisory Committee would be in conformity with the Hague Convention of 1912, to which the American Government and most of the Governments members of the League are parties and which is the basic international convention relating to the control of the traffic in narcotic drugs. And, it is believed that acceptance in any way of an import certificate issued by “Manchukuo” as the basis for licensing the exportation of narcotics to Manchuria might readily be construed as an implication of recognition of the government of “Manchukuo”.
Except as regards these points, the American Government is proceeding on lines substantially in accordance with the recommendations formulated by the Advisory Committee. We do not understand that the Committee made definite recommendations with regard to procedure in postal matters. The procedure which we are following in that connection is already known to the British Government.
- Given to Mr. Freese-Pennefather of the British Embassy without covering memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs on December 8, 1933, in reply to oral inquiry.↩
- League of Nations, Official Journal, Special Supp. No. 113, p. 11.↩
- Signed February 19, 1925, League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. lxxxi, p. 317.↩
- Signed January 23, 1912, Foreign Relations, 1912, p. 196.↩