Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1938, The Far East, Volume III

693.002/801

The Department of State to the French Embassy

Aide-Mémoire

The receipt is acknowledged of the French Embassy’s aide-mémoire of December 23²⁷ on the subject of the Chinese Maritime Customs at Canton, The French Government refers to the Japanese Government’s negative replies to the representations made by the French, British and American Ambassadors in Tokyo²⁸ and inquires with regard to the intentions of the American Government in this matter.

Subsequent to the date upon which representations were made in Tokyo, the American Government received information from the American Consul General at Canton to the effect that the control over the Chinese customs at Canton contemplated by the Japanese authorities is similar to that exercised by the Japanese at other ports under the control of the Japanese military and that the Commissioner of Customs at Canton has accepted the situation under protest. The American Government continues to maintain its interest in the preservation of the integrity of the Chinese Maritime Customs but, in the absence of information indicating that additional action would be advisable, it does not perceive that any beneficial purpose would be served by its making further representations to the Japanese Government in this matter at this time.

Washington , December 28, 1938.

[Correspondence on the undeclared war between Japan and China is continued in volume IV.]

27. Not printed.
28. For the Japanese reply to Ambassador Grew, see Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941, vol. i, p. 747.