Office of the Historian

793.94/8412: Telegram

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

Nanking, December 4, 1936—noon.
[Received 6:50 p.m.]

341. Tsingtau’s December 3, 11 a.m. to Peiping.76

1.
The Foreign Office has released a statement that the Minister for [Page 405] Foreign Affairs invited the Japanese Ambassador to the Foreign Office at 7:30 December 3 and orally and strongly protested landing of sailors at Tsingtau, demanding withdrawal of sailors, release of persons illegally arrested and return of documents illegally seized. Another Foreign Office press release states that the oral protest was confirmed by note to the Japanese Embassy dated December 3 charging the Japanese naval authorities with flagrant violation of Chinese sovereign rights; accusing the Japanese of aggravating the labor trouble by declaring a lockout and landing sailors; and reserving the right of the Chinese Government to make such demands as are relevant to the situation.
2.
The Japanese Ambassador regarded the request for him to call on the Minister for Foreign Affairs as reply to his standing request for another interview concerning settlement of outstanding issues, and following the discussion about the Tsingtao incident of December 3, presented to the Minister for Foreign Affairs a long aide-mémoire recapitulating the previous seven discussions. The Minister for Foreign Affairs seems to have glanced at this document and found portions unsatisfactory whereupon he returned it to the Ambassador. In fact, the authorized release from the Foreign Office states that the Minister for Foreign Affairs referred to the situation in Suiyuan and said he was not prepared to discuss any Sino-Japanese question that had been under negotiation. However, the Ambassador insisted upon leaving the aide-mémoire with Minister for Foreign Affairs.
3.
An American news representative states that the Japanese Embassy informed him this morning that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs returned the aide-mémoire by messenger to the Japanese Embassy December 4, 4 a.m., but that the Embassy has again sent it to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The informant reports Japanese Embassy officials as asserting that the reason why the Minister for Foreign Affairs was unwilling to receive the aide-mémoire was because it recorded statements which he actually made, but now regrets, and not because its contents “were quite at variance with the facts” as asserted in the press release from the Foreign Office. Japanese Embassy officials reported that return of the aide-mémoire by the Foreign Office to the Embassy was insulting and that the proper course would have been to point out in a written reply any features to which objection was taken.
4.
Sent to the Department, by mail to Peiping.
Johnson
  1. See supra.↩