893.5151 Manchuria/15: Telegram
The Counselor of Embassy in China ( Lockhart ) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 30—8:45 a.m.]
713. Department’s 333, October 19, 3 p.m. Following telegram was received October 29 from Mukden.
“No. 1, October 26, 7 p.m. Referring to Department’s telegram of October 19, 3 p.m., please telegraph to the Department that I called on Ohashi50 yesterday and stated to him that the statutory discrimination in favor of Japanese currency, Japanese exchange, and Japan was clearly inconsistent with the numerous pledges to maintain the Open Door which I cited and has created a very unfavorable impression in the United States. I left informal memorandum of my statements. Ohashi expressed doubt as to the existence of discrimination until I showed him discriminatory passages in the acts when he seemed genuinely surprised and disconcerted. He professed he could not understand enactment of discriminatory provisions and his Government’s policy to maintain the Open Door has not changed and promised to look into the question.
British Consul General has not yet received instructions to make local representations but he is telegraphing to Hsinking today and [Page 934] intends to call attention to the discriminatory provisions in the course of conversations. I understand that he has suggested to his Government that the question be formally taken up in Tokyo in view of its relation to Japan’s several pertinent treaty commitments.”
Sent to the Department, repeated to Nanking and Tokyo.
- Chuichi Ohashi, Japanese Director of the “Manchoukuo” Foreign Office.↩