893.01 Provisional/70
The British Embassy to the Department of State
Aide-Mémoire
In an interview with the Counsellor of His Majesty’s Embassy on the 21st January Mr. Hamilton expressed the readiness of the Department of State to receive any suggestions which His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom might have to offer with regard to the question of calls to be paid on the representatives of the Provisional Government at Peking and on territorial officials. The following information on this subject has now been received from the Foreign Office.
[Page 88]As regards diplomatic representatives His Majesty’s Government feel that, even if visitors are received on a personal footing, more formal arrangements may be made to receive return visits; while for them to receive territorial appointees such as the Mayor of Tientsin and not to receive actual members of the new Provisional Government at Peking might cause extreme ill-feeling. Moreover the expedient of returning calls by sending a card even by the hand of a personal representative would seem rude if done more than once or twice and is therefore, in the opinion of His Majesty’s Government, undesirable as a general procedure.
In view of these objections His Majesty’s Chargé d’Affaires is being instructed to the effect that the exchange of visits on a personal and informal basis should be restricted to consular officers; as, in any case, representations to the Provisional Government would have to be conducted through a consular officer in view of the nonrecognition of that Government, this procedure would not seem likely to affect the protection of British interests all the more because these representations would in most cases be addressed through the Japanese Embassy. In point of fact there is reason to believe that members of the Provisional Government are aware of the awkwardness of the situation and that the likelihood of their wishing to exchange calls with foreign missions is at present remote.
As regards invitations to functions, His Majesty’s Government consider they should as a general rule be refused; but in special circumstances and where other missions favour similar action there might be no objection to consular officers attending.
In this connection His Majesty’s Government appreciate that the United States Embassy staff at Peking are all Foreign Service officers holding diplomatic rank, so that it would no doubt in practice be impossible for the United States Government to draw the same distinction as they do. His Majesty’s Government however venture to hope that the United States Government will see their way to instruct their diplomatic representative at Peking to adopt a more or less identical procedure, for example on the lines that calls limited as above should be received and returned by subordinate officers and not by the diplomatic representative in charge of the mission.
His Majesty’s Government are approaching the French Government in a similar sense.