793.94/13649: Telegram
The Consul General at Shanghai (Lockhart) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 11—10:35 a.m.]
1092. My 812, June 11, noon.20
1. I received this morning a note marked urgent under date of August 10th addressed to the Ambassador by Masayuki Tani, Japanese Minister at Large, reading as follows: [Page 168]
2. “I have the honor to state that I am informed by the Japanese naval authorities that the Chinese are using steam launches and junks in their hostile operations, such as laying mines, on the Yangtze between Kiukiang and Hankow, and that many a vessel flying a third power flag has been noticed operating in a suspicious manner in the immediate vicinity of the mine-laid area.
It is inconceivable that any third power vessel engaged in a peaceful trade should venture to be in such a dangerous place, and those vessels flying third power flags are considered to be Chinese military ships disguised as foreign ships for the purpose of evading attack from the Japanese forces.
It is to be recalled that the Japanese Navy, being anxious to avoid any possible mistake, requested on the 11th June to be kept informed of the whereabouts of each vessel, both naval and mercantile, of a third power, in the abovementioned region. When a small vessel is flying a third power flag and operating in a suspicious manner near the mine-laid area, it is almost impossible to ascertain its nationality from an aeroplane, and the sole means of distinguishing a neutral vessel from an enemy vessel is the notification by the former of its whereabouts.
I have, therefore, to request Your Excellency to be good enough to take the necessary steps in order that the American naval authorities may keep close contact with the Japanese Navy and notify it without delay of the whereabouts of each and every vessel, both naval and mercantile.
I wish to add that it is deemed desirable that a third power vessel which is so small that it is difficult to ascertain its nationality should refrain from entering the zone of activities of the Chinese forces.”
Repeated to Chungking, Peiping, Tokyo and Commander-in-Chief United States Asiatic Fleet.