Office of the Historian

693.94244/10: Telegram

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

Washington, May 14, 1936—5 p.m.

117. Nanking’s 135, May 13, 2 p.m.; Department’s 110, May 8, 6 p.m. repeated by Tokyo;78 and Tokyo’s 104, May 13, 11 a.m. to Department.

Please instruct Peck by telegraph to call on the Minister of Finance and inform him orally and in confidence that the smuggling situation in North China has been brought by this Government not only to the attention of the Chinese Foreign Office at Nanking but also to the attention of the Japanese Foreign Office at Tokyo. Peck should also on an appropriate occasion similarly inform the Minister for Foreign Affairs.

With regard to Nanking’s No. 133, May 12, 4 p.m., paragraph 2, a secretary of the Chinese Embassy on May 12 left with the Department a memorandum giving a resume of the smuggling situation in North China. The memorandum contains no request for action. The Department is acknowledging receipt of the memorandum, stating that this situation has had and continues to have careful attention.

The Department is sending you by pouch a copy of the memorandum.

Repeated to Tokyo as Department’s No. 56, May 14, 5 p.m.

Hull
  1. See telegram No. 52, May 8, 6 p.m., to the Ambassador in Japan, p. 142.↩