693.002/411⅓
Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Welles)
The British Ambassador called upon me this morning. I discussed first the questions involved in the Japanese negotiations with the authorities [Page 884] of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service. The Ambassador expressed his appreciation of the aide-mémoire given to him last night in reponse to his aide-mémoire to the Department of November 26 on the same subject.8 He asked clarification of the last two sentences in the Department’s aide-mémoire which I gave him. I stated that the United States Government had made known to the Japanese Government that it possessed an interest in the administration of the Chinese Customs Service and in the collection and allocation of funds obtained thereby and that it believed that it should be consulted with regard to any negotiations taking place between the Japanese military authorities and the customs authorities. I stated that in our belief the position of the British Government with regard to administration of the Customs Service was distinct from ours in that under an existing agreement between Great Britain and China certain officers of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service were British subjects so long as British trade with China maintained a preponderant position and that was a question which concerned Great Britain directly. I said that consequently representations which we might make would not be directed towards any insistence that the Japanese authorities negotiate or advise with this or that particular British official, but would be based upon the legitimate interest of the Government of the United States in the customs and upon our desire to be consulted with regard to such negotiations as might be had.
- Latter not printed.↩