811.79690 Pan American Airways/68
The Ambassador in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 13.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to my despatch No. 163, of May 14, 1936,2 in which I submitted information received from Mr. W. L. Bond, of China Airways, Federal Incorporated, and of the China National Aviation Corporation, concerning the prospects for an exchange of airmail between Pan American Airways and the China National Aviation Corporation at Macau.
I have the honor to state that Mr. Bond called on me on June 11, 1936, and gave information tending to show that it is now probable [Page 642] that this exchange will take place at Hong Kong, rather than at Macau. There is enclosed a Memorandum of my conversation with Mr. Bond, dated June 11, 1936,4 which will indicate that Mr. Bond reported that the Ministry of Communications had informed the Director of the China National Aviation Corporation that the British Chargé d’Affaires5 had recently proposed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the planes of the China National Aviation Corporation call at Hong Kong, there to effect traffic arrangements with the planes of the British Imperial Airways. The British Chargé d’Affaires had attached certain conditions to this offer. The message stated that the Executive Yuan had decided to accept this offer, but to reject all the conditions, except the stipulation that British airplanes, in conditions of force majeure, might land in Chinese territory.
After his conversation with me Mr. Bond called on the British Chargé d’Affaires, in order to verify the facts, and subsequently told me that Mr. Howe, the Chargé d’Affaires, had informed him that the British Government had, as stated, invited the Chinese Government to send the planes of the China National Aviation Corporation to Hong Kong. Mr. Howe said, however, that the Chinese Government had stated that in accepting this offer it did so without agreeing to any conditions whatsoever, the permission granted to British planes to land in China in circumstances of force majeure being merely a voluntary act on its part. Mr. Bond inferred that the British Government would not object to the deletion of the “conditions”, since the connection between Chinese planes and Air France at Hanoi was effected without any conditions. Mr. Bond said that Mr. Howe had been puzzled by the apparent misunderstanding in regard to “equal rights”, mentioned in the enclosed memorandum, and had not succeeded in solving the mystery.
Mr. Bond seemed to think that if the China National Aviation Corporation planes actually commenced calling at Hong Kong, Pan American Airways would change its proposed China terminal from Macau to Hong Kong.
The Department may be interested in the statement made by Mr. Bond (see bottom of page 3 of the Memorandum) that the Chinese Government had granted permission to the Southwestern Aviation Corporation to conduct the connecting air line between Canton and Hanoi, via Nanning and Luchow.
Respectfully yours,
Counselor of Embassy