893.515/1413: Telegram
The Counselor of Embassy in China (Lockhart) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 6—8:05 a.m.]
390. Peiping’s 386, August 4, 11 a.m. The decree of the Ministry of Finance, which became effective August 3, is concerned only with the currency carried by travelers and apparently does not affect commercial remittances. A traveler may take out of North China a sum not exceeding the amount which he brought in but in no case may more than $500 in Federal Reserve Bank notes be exported or imported by the traveler. The decree provided a system of registration of currency brought into North China and for application forms for permits to export currency.
The decree provides that imports of currency from Japan or Manchukuo are subject to the currency laws in Japan or Manchukuo; if a permit for exportation is issued by Japan or Manchukuo for a sum in Japanese, Manchukuoan, or other foreign currency even in excess [Page 444] of the equivalent of 500 Federal Reserve Bank dollars, the permit will be accepted for importation into North China. Violations of the decree are punishable by a fine up to five times the amount of currency involved and the currency will be confiscated.
It is not stated whether the decree applies to travelers checks and letters of credit.
The Embassy believes that the extension of the decree to cover commercial remittances, similar to enactments in Japan and Manchukuo, is but a matter of time.
Repeated to Chungking, Tokyo, Shanghai, Tientsin. By mail to Tsingtao, Chefoo. Tsinan informed.