393.1115/195: Telegram
The Ambassador in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 22—6 a.m.]
486. In view of the possibilities (1) that hostilities in China might be prolonged, (2) that hostilities might spread to areas not now affected and (3) that present transportation facilities might become interrupted or suspended, you are instructed to advise Americans in your districts of these possibilities and to advise them to withdraw from China. This applies particularly to Americans (1) in the interior of the Tientsin and Hankow Consular Districts, (2) those who have recently withdrawn to Hankow and to Kuling and those who are concentrating at Tsingtao and Chefoo. American women and children and men who can do so without great inconvenience should withdraw from exposed and remote parts of China even though the areas in which they are located at present give appearance of being comparatively safe.
[Page 275]Please keep Embassy informed of progress of your efforts in getting Americans to leave places in the interior and also inform me of places of concentration. It is still possible for Americans concentrated at Hankow to proceed south to Canton and Hong Kong. It is also still possible to reach Tsingtao.
Sent to Chefoo, Tsingtao, Hankow, Tientsin.67 Repeated to the Department referring to Department’s 166, August 20, 2 p.m.
- This message was sent by the Ambassador on August 28 to American consular offices at Amoy, Canton, Foochow, and Swatow, and repeated for information to Peiping, Shanghai, and Yunnanfu.↩