893.102S/1417: Telegram
The Consul General at Shanghai (Gauss) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 21—9:45 a.m.]
604. Secretary General of the Shanghai Municipal Council has informed the British Consul General and me that the Japanese Consul General recently called on the Chairman of the Council and, stating that he was acting under instructions of his Government, “demanded” that the police of the Hongkew area of the International Settlement be placed under the control of a Japanese Assistant Commissioner of Police and that the heads of the principal police stations in Hongkew and Yangtze Poo areas be Japanese. He is stated to have asked for a reply within a week and also to have insisted that no publicity be given to the matter.
British Consul General who is also Senior Consul has asked the Commissioner of Police to submit a memorandum on the subject. This should be forthcoming on Monday next.99
I have discussed this matter with my British colleague and we are in agreement that when we have an exact report on the present police arrangements and the measures which might reasonably be taken to meet Japanese wishes, we should go together to the Japanese Consul General and inquire as to the exact representations he has made to the Council and the Japanese desires concerning police arrangements in Hongkew.
Personally, I feel that it would be unwise and dangerous to place the control of the police in the Hongkew and Yangtze Poo areas under Japanese officers. Few of these officers have had any substantial experience in the Shanghai police force; few of them understand English; they would certainly be under the influence of the Japanese Navy and consular authorities; and they would be likely to deal with Chinese in an arbitrary Japanese fashion which would soon place the authorities of the International Settlement in an embarrassing situation.
Furthermore, there are heavy Chinese interests and a very large Chinese population in the area; also very extensive British interests, and such substantial American interests as the Shanghai Power Plant, a number of factories and warehouses, the American Government consular site, various American missionary interests and an American resident population of several hundred. The introduction of Japanese control of the police in the area would be likely seriously to affect the morale of the white and Chinese police acting under such [Page 702] officers. It might also result in the exodus of the Chinese from the area. And certainly the present period of tense Sino-Japanese relations is no time to consider placing Japanese officers of the municipal police in control of the area. This might well be the first step toward the establishment of the area as a Japanese settlement.
On the other hand, in view of the large Japanese interests and the Japanese population in the area, I believe that the Council would be wise to provide as large a number as possible of Japanese police under reasonably high-ranking Japanese who acting in cooperation with equally high-ranking white officers under the direction and supervision of a white assistant commissioner or perhaps under co-assistant commissioners, one of whom might be a Japanese. There is already a substantial number of Japanese in the municipal police force in the area stationed principally in the area of Japanese residence.
I will report promptly all developments.
- Not printed.↩