893.102S/1313: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Minister in China ( Johnson )

71. Your 125, March 17, noon, paragraph 2.

1.
Department approves your view in regard to what our attitude should be and authorizes you to instruct Shanghai accordingly.
2.
Whatever agreement with regard to the problem of the extra-Settlement roads at Shanghai may be in contemplation, the Department desires that the Legation and the Consulate General at Shanghai do not lose sight of the fact that the Department has on several occasions (see Department’s 359, October 31, 1932, noon,9 last paragraph, Department’s 104, April 1, 1933, 11 a.m.,10 and Department’s 353, October 26, 1933, 5 p.m.,11) stated that, in so far as we are concerned, the agreement should be a strictly local agreement which does not require the signatures of representatives of the American Government. If therefore it should appear that the Japanese and/or any other foreign authority represented at Shanghai are seeking to have the agreement approved in writing by the diplomatic and consular representatives in China of the interested powers, the Department desires that the Minister and the Consul General vigorously endeavor to dissuade the sponsors of that proposal from such a course of action.
Hull