693.002/603: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Consul General at Shanghai (Lockhart)
289. Following for Tokyo:
“Your 267, April 23, 8 p.m. The Department interprets the fifth document listed to mean that the Inspector General of Customs will be given currency of the Chinese National Government and that with such currency the Inspector General will be expected to obtain from the Chinese Government foreign exchange for the payment of the quotas of the ports under Japanese occupation in the servicing of foreign obligations secured on customs revenue.
This would throw upon the Chinese Government the burden of providing foreign exchange for the quotas of areas in which the so called Federal Reserve Bank is endeavoring to replace the circulation of Chinese national currency with its own notes and from which exports do not contribute to the foreign exchange fund of the Chinese Government.
The Department would welcome your comment upon the above, together with any information you may have as to whether there is any indication that the Inspector General could in fact obtain from the Chinese Government the foreign exchange required to pay the quotas of the ports under Japanese occupation.”
Please repeat to Hankow for information.