793.94/10779
Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs (Hamilton) of a Conversation With the Second Secretary of the Chinese Embassy (Tsui)
Mr. Tsui called at his own request.
1. Mr. Tsui said that the Chinese Ambassador wished him to inquire with regard to our attitude toward the resolution adopted yesterday by the Advisory Committee of the League in regard to the bombing by Japanese airplanes of open towns in China. Mr. Tsui said that the Embassy’s latest information was to the effect that the Assembly of the League had also adopted this resolution. In reply, I handed Mr. Tsui a copy of the statement which the Secretary made public today.62
2. Mr. Tsui said that the Chinese Embassy had received instructions to inquire with regard to our attitude toward the question of imposing an embargo upon exports of oil to Japan. Mr. Tsui said that the Chinese delegation at Geneva had suggested to the British delegation [Page 39] there that the Advisory Committee give consideration to this question and that the British delegation had replied that the Advisory Committee might consider the matter. Mr. Tsui said that the British delegation had also raised the question as to whether or not the United States would cooperate in any such movement. Mr. Tsui said that the Chinese Ambassador would like to have my comments on this matter. I said that I could make two comments: (1) that if the British were interested in ascertaining our attitude, I wondered why they did not approach us in the matter; and (2) that in general our attitude toward any such hypothetical question was covered in the concluding paragraph of the note which the American Minister to Switzerland addressed to the Secretary General of the League under date September 20, reading as follows:
“In order that there may be no misunderstanding with regard to the American Government’s position and no confusion or delay flowing from uncertainty, the American Government feels constrained to observe that it cannot take upon itself those responsibilities which devolve from the fact of their membership upon members of the League. It assumes that members of the League will arrive at their common decisions with regard to policy and possible courses of action by and through normal League procedure. The American Government, believing thoroughly in the principle of collaboration among states of the world seeking to bring about peaceful solutions of international conflicts, will be prepared to give careful consideration to definite proposals which the League may address to it but will not, however, be prepared to state its position in regard to policies or plans submitted to it in terms of hypothetical inquiry.”
There then followed some discussion of technical and legal questions in regard to the placing of an embargo by the American Government on exports of oil. I told Mr. Tsui that I could not undertake to express an opinion with regard to the technical and legal phases of the matter.
3. Mr. Tsui said that there prevailed the impression that the American Government did not favor the convening of a special Far Eastern conference to consider the Sino-Japanese question and that due to this attitude of the American Government the Advisory Committee of the League had discarded that idea which it had first been considering and was now considering the setting up of a subcommittee of the Advisory Committee. Mr. Tsui said that the view attributed to the American Government was to the effect that the Sino-Japanese situation was a much larger question than just a regional one and that it was a world question which should receive consideration on the broadest possible basis.
I asked Mr. Tsui where such an impression prevailed. He first said that he had noticed comments to that effect in the press. I then said [Page 40] that some days ago I had noticed items in the press to the effect that the American Government was seriously considering the question of taking some action under the Nine Power Treaty and that a few days later I had noticed other items to the effect that the American Government looked with coolness upon the idea of action being taken under the Nine Power Treaty. I told Mr. Tsui that I did not know the source of these newspaper reports and that we did not undertake to comment in regard to all the reports which were carried in the press.
Mr. Tsui then said that the Chinese Embassy here had received information from the Chinese delegation at Geneva to the effect that the Advisory Committee had first given some thought to bringing about a conference of the powers interested in the Far East, which conference would be outside the League of Nations, but that later the Advisory Committee had discarded that idea and had substituted for it the idea of setting up a subcommittee of the Advisory Committee. I said that our information from Geneva was substantially to the same effect. I asked Mr. Tsui whether the Advisory Committee had yet decided to set up a subcommittee. He said that so far as he knew no final action had yet been taken. I then asked Mr. Tsui whether the Chinese Government itself favored the idea of a Far Eastern conference as contrasted with the idea of the setting up by the Advisory Committee of a subcommittee. Mr. Tsui indicated that the Chinese Government was favorably disposed toward the idea of a subcommittee because the setting up of a Far Eastern conference might mean the taking of the Sino-Japanese situation out of the hands of the League of Nations.
Although Mr. Tsui did not specifically so state, I gathered the definite impression that the Chinese Embassy here had received a report from the Chinese delegation at Geneva to the effect that the American Government did not favor the idea of the Sino-Japanese situation being transferred at this juncture to a conference of powers with interests in the Far East.
- Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941, vol. i, p. 506; also see infra.↩