893.51/6915: Telegram
The Counselor of Embassy in China (Peck) to the Secretary of State
Chungking, June 12,
1939—9 a.m.
[Received June 12—7 a.m.]
[Received June 12—7 a.m.]
377. My 373, June 10, 11 a.m.
- 1.
- This morning Arthur Young expressed to me great concern lest the increasingly strained relations between Japan and Great Britain should nullify British efforts to induce the Japanese to agree to the arrangement for customs funds which he had been discussing with the British Ambassador. He thought that the Japanese would receive representations from American and French sources more favorably than from British and he added that ample reason for such representations seemed to exist in that immobilization of quota payments for the service of obligations would protect the interests of foreign bondholders while retention of the quota by the Japanese would assist them [the Japanese] to frustrate attempts at support of Chinese currency in the success of which attempts foreign interests [Page 846] are so closely involved. He regretted that he personally was so prominent in the initiation of the strictly confidential discussions of this proposal. He hoped the Department would realize that it was necessary for some individual to take this initiative because there were phases of the arrangement to which the Chinese Government could not give more than the tacit approval that would be indicated by refraining from interposing objections.
- 2.
- Does the Department desire that I repeat my 373 and this telegram to Shanghai for Tokyo or to Peiping?
Peck