Office of the Historian

793.94112/32: Telegram

The Consul at Tsingtao (Sokobin) to the Secretary of State

Tsingtao, September 6, 1937—6 p.m.
[Received September 6—9:40 a.m.]

In view of the reported extension of the Japanese blockade,96 the question has arisen whether the Standard Vacuum Oil Company should make shipment of kerosene and gasoline by Chinese vessels to Haichow, no other vessels being available. The Consulate has brought to the attention of the American company the notice served to Chinese and Japanese Governments on August 2797 regarding [Page 451] rights of American Government and its nationals in respect of damages to or loss of American property. Has the Department any instructions in respect to shipments of American cargo from Tsingtao or information as to the reported exception of Tsingtao from the blockaded zone and the implications of such an exception?

Sokobin
  1. Effective September 5, noon.↩
  2. For note to Japanese Foreign Office, see Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941, vol. i, p. 490; for note to Chinese Foreign Office, see telegram No. 185, August 26, 8 p.m., to the Ambassador in China, ante, p. 289.↩