393.1123 Winterle/19: Telegram

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

82. Your despatches Nos. 64 and 71 of November 6 and 9.93 Department approves of your proposal to present to the Japanese Ambassador copies of the letters from the Japanese Consul at Chefoo to Paxton and to complain of their character and tone, quite apart from and without reference to the merit of the cases concerned but suggests that this be done informally.94

Hull
  1. Neither printed. In these despatches, the Ambassador in China reported further on the correspondence growing out of the incident of September 3 and two other incidents involving citizens of the Philippine Islands. Copies of letters from the Japanese Consul were enclosed to illustrate the “discourteous and impertinent character of the correspondence.” The Department was requested to authorize the making of representations to the Japanese Ambassador in China. (393.11B21 Malabanan, Leonardo/3; 393.1123 Winterle/17)
  2. This matter was discussed in February 1936 at Nanking by representatives of the American and Japanese Embassies. The Japanese representative suggested that the fault was due to poor translation into English and promised that he would “see that the proper steps were taken” to avoid in the future misinterpretation of language in written correspondence at Chefoo (393.1123 Winterle/20).