793.94 Commission/738: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in China (Johnson)
15. For your strictly confidential information, Department has just received from London a telegram giving account of a conversation between Sir John Simon and a member of the Embassy staff in the course of which Sir John stated that, as regards Shanhaikwan, no attempt should be made to offer mediation without the full consent of both the Chinese and the Japanese; and that he hesitated to consider any idea for patrol by foreign troops in that region as a neutral area, as it would be entirely uncertain when they might ever be withdrawn.
The Department had not raised either of these questions, but its views are similar.