493.11/1851: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in China ( Johnson )
78. Your 127, March 21, 10 a.m. Foreign Office reply and comments of Hsu Mo, as reported in your telegram under reference, further strengthen the Department’s opinion that there has existed for many years and that there still exists a lamentable lack of effectively earnest desire on the part of the Chinese Government to liquidate or even to consider with appropriate seriousness its debts and obligations to American claimants. Department is also of the opinion that the present attitude of the Chinese Government in regard to this matter is one of studied evasion and procrastination; that Hsu Mo’s quibble on the word “claims” is absurd and suggests an attitude of irresponsibility; and that the Legation, in addition to conveying to the Foreign Office the views expressed in the last substantive sentence of its telegram under reference, should also make known the fact that the Department is becoming increasingly impatient over the lack of effective action on the part of the Chinese Government toward payment of its just debts to American nationals and that the Department is of the opinion that no adequate or convincing objections have been offered to date against the American proposal for a joint claims commission, the primary object of which would be a determination [Page 551] and adjudication of claims against the concerned Governments with a view to ultimate, but not necessarily an immediate, liquidation thereof.