893.5151/600
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs (Hamilton)
| Participants: | Mr. Nisiyama, Japanese Financial Commissioner at New York |
| Mr. Hamilton | |
| Mr. Ballantine50 |
Mr. Nisiyama, Japanese Financial Commissioner at New York, called by appointment made by Mr. Suma of the Japanese Embassy. Mr. Nisiyama was accompanied by Mr. Ukawa of the Japanese Government’s Financial Commission at New York.
This was Mr. Nisiyama’s first call on me, and during the first minutes of his call we exchanged conventional remarks during the course of which Mr. Nisiyama stated that he had been for several years a director of the Yokohama Specie Bank stationed in New York and that some three weeks ago the Japanese Government, desirous of increasing its financial representation in the United States, had asked him to accept the position of Financial Commissioner. He said that he had accepted the position. After these remarks Mr. Nisiyama, somewhat to my surprise, brought up the question of exchange control in north China. He inquired whether the American Government had made representations to the Japanese Government on the subject. I replied in the affirmative. He then inquired whether the Japanese Government had made reply to these representations. I then said that our general representations had been included in a note of October 6;51 that the Japanese Government had made reply to that note;52 that thereafter this Government had sent a further comprehensive note of December 31 [30];53 and that that constituted the record of the exchange of communications.
Mr. Nisiyama said that he understood that American and British banks in north China were prepared to accept the notes of the Federated Reserve Bank set up by the Peiping regime but that they hesitated to do so because of advice given them by the American and [Page 405] British Governments not to cooperate with the Federated Reserve Bank. Mr. Nisiyama expressed the view that it would be advisable for American and British banks to accept the Federated Reserve Bank notes; that by so doing they could resume their normal operations and American and British trade would also be carried on in a normal way; and that there was no desire to discriminate against American and British trade or business. I commented that the position of this Government with regard to the exchange and trade restrictions which had been set up in north China was set forth clearly in this Government’s notes to the Japanese Government of October 6 and December 31; that developments since the sending of those notes had not caused us to modify the views expressed therein but on the contrary had strengthened our belief in the soundness of the position which had been taken by this Government. Mr. Nisiyama again expressed the view that it was advisable that American and British banks cooperate with the Federated Reserve Bank and its currency, and he stated that there was no Chinese Government currency in the area. I commented that in as much as north China was a part of China I saw no reason why Chinese Government currency should not circulate and be available in that area. Mr. Nisiyama continued his argumentation, and I finally terminated this phase of the discussion by saying that in as much as this was Mr. Nisiyama’s first call I did not wish to enter into a detailed discussion with him but would only refer him to what I had previously said.
Mr. Ballantine then joined us, and the remainder of the conversation was of a conventional character.
- Joseph W. Ballantine, Assistant Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs.↩
- Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941, vol. i, p. 785.↩
- Dated November 18, 1938, ibid., p. 797.↩
- Ibid., p. 820.↩