693.116/112a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in China (Johnson)
366. Department’s 363, November 3, 5 p.m.96 last paragraph and your 835, November 4, 1 p.m.97
The Department desires that the Minister also present this matter at Canton. Department feels that in presenting it, use might be made of the points that the action which has been taken by the Canton authorities bears out the contention of critics of China that the Chinese will not observe their treaty obligations unless force is threatened or used; that the American Government has since August 1931 spent over $500,000, United States currency, in repatriating to China Chinese refugees from Mexico,98 practically all of whom were Cantonese; and that the American Government, if it saw fit, might take retaliatory measures against Canton exports to the United States, a course of action, however, which it would be extremely loathe to take. With regard to the idea of possible retaliatory option, the Department desires that the Consul General at Canton make a careful study of the import and export trends of the principal commodities exchanged between the Canton area and the United States in order that he and the Minister as well as the Department might be in position to consider whether such retaliatory measures might be practicable and advisable.