793.94/14629.: Telegram
The Consul at Geneva ( Bucknell ) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 20—1:30 p.m.]
13. My telegram No. 11, January 19, 6 p.m. The Council in public session today adopted the draft resolution concerning the Chinese appeal with a few unimportant changes in phrasing.
New Zealand representative while regretting the weakness of the draft resolution accepted it since it was at least a slight advance on previous resolutions.
Russian delegate associated himself with the request made by China; reaffirmed the readiness of his Government to participate in any measures taken by the League to assure the collective security which had been so much disparaged and said that the draft resolution while it did not go far enough, nevertheless, presented a certain amount of progress.
British representative expressed his sympathy for the sufferings of the Chinese people and said that the British Government desired to come to the aid of the Chinese Government to the greatest possible [Page 335] extent. Since last September his Government had been studying sympathetically certain requests from China for economic assistance and there was a prospect of some satisfaction being given to China. He hoped that peace and order would be restored in China and his Government would neglect no opportunity of collaborating to this end.
Wellington Koo thanked the members of the Council for their expressions of sympathy to his country; said that it was not necessary again to stress the fact that a scrupulous respect for treaty obligations and the observance of good faith are recognized as fundamental principles in international relations; stated that the Japanese attempt to nullify principles of the Nine Power Treaty has just been met with the stern disapproval of the three Governments directly interested in the Far East as well as with China’s determined rejection and resistance and that the Council would have been well within its competence if it had availed itself of the opportunity to pronounce once more against such unwarranted action on the part of Japan. His Government earnestly hoped that the requests presented by him last Tuesday33 will in conformity with the resolutions before the Council be sympathetically examined and promptly given a satisfactory response. Saying that his acceptance of the resolution was subject to the reservation that the Council remains seized of the appeal of the Chinese Government, he said:
“It must be clear by now after a year and a half of China’s determined resistance with its untold sufferings and sacrifices for the Chinese people that the victory of the Chinese cause will mean at once the salvage of the rights and interests of the countries directly concerned in the Far East on the one hand and on the other the vindication of the principles of security in peace and progress in order in the world.”
- January 17.↩