493.11/1870: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Minister in China ( Johnson )
Washington
, June 1,
1934—7 p.m.
157. Your 225, May 29, 2 p.m. Department approves of the procedure suggested in paragraph 2 of your telegram under reference and in connection therewith suggests
- (a)
- that looting claims should not be included in the list of American claims now in preparation for submission to the Foreign Office
- (b)
- that the Legation’s comments in regard to each claim should be confined to statements of fact;
- (c)
- that the Legation should make no attempt to state the legal basis for claims so presented;
- (d)
- that, in placing at the disposal of the Foreign Office the list of American claims, the Legation should indicate that such list is by no means complete; that it is submitted without prejudice to other American claims and that its presentation in incomplete form is due to a desire on the part of the Legation to make available as promptly as possible a sufficient number of representative American claims to enable the Chinese Government to give detailed consideration to the subject under discussion and to arrive, it is hoped, at the conclusion long held by the American Government to the effect that the interests of all concerned would be best served by the establishment of a Sino-American claims commission.
Please report developments by naval radio and forward to the Department by mail a copy of such list of American claims as may be submitted to the Foreign Office.
Phillips