793.94/9306: Telegram
The Ambassador in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 12—5 a.m.]
403. 1. I joined with my German, British, Italian and French colleagues in addressing notes of today’s date to the Chinese Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Japanese Ambassador. They were delivered about 9 o’clock this evening.
2. The first paragraph of the note to the Minister of Foreign Affairs was given in my 390, August 8, 1 p.m., to the Department. The second paragraph was changed by the Department’s 137, August 9, 7 p.m., to Nanking to read as follows:
“Prompted by the considerations mentioned in the foregoing paragraph, the Ambassadors most interested [in the hope that the] Chinese Government will do all in its power to carry out effectively the plan of excluding the Shanghai area from the scope of any possible hostilities, now address this communication to Your Excellency. We should welcome any additional assurance to that effect which Your Excellency may feel able to give. We are addressing a similar communication to His Excellency, the Japanese Ambassador”.
3. The first paragraph of the letter to the Japanese Ambassador was the same as above. The second paragraph read as follows:
“In an oral communication the Chinese authorities have already announced to some of the Embassies most interested their desire to avoid all hostilities in the Shanghai region. Prompted by the considerations mentioned in the foregoing paragraph, the Ambassadors most interested were, at the moment there was delivered to some of them the oral communication of the Chinese authorities indicating their desire to avoid all hostilities in the Shanghai region, preparing to approach simultaneously both the Chinese and the Japanese Governments on this subject. The undersigned diplomatic representatives, in the hope that the Japanese authorities will do all in their power to carry out effectively a plan to exclude the Shanghai area from the scope of any possible hostilities, now address this communication to Your Excellency. We should welcome any assurance to that effect which Your Excellency may feel able to give”.
Sent to Tokyo.