Office of the Historian

393.11B21 Tan, Marcel O./1: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Consul at Amoy (MacVitty)

Washington, June 13, 1939—6 p.m.

18. Your 46, June 8, 4 p.m.83

1.
It is assumed from your telegram that Marcel O. Tan is a Philippine citizen of the Chinese race and is being detained by the Police of the International Settlement at Kulangsu.
2.
On the basis of the High Commissioner’s84 telegram of May 27, you should in your discretion and as soon as a suitable opportunity presents itself make a further approach to the Japanese Consul General, as under the instructions of this Government, substantially as follows:
(a)
The Japanese Consul General may have misunderstood the status of Philippine citizens. Philippine citizens owe allegiance to the United States, are entitled abroad to the protection of the American Government identically with American citizens, and in China are under the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the United States. Consequently no Chinese or other authority in China except an American authority is legally competent to assume jurisdiction over a Philippine citizen, and a Philippine citizen who may be taken into custody by local police in China should be immediately delivered to the nearest American authority, in this case the American Consul at Amoy, for the consideration of any charges which may be preferred against him.
(b)
You should ask the Japanese Consul General, as a matter of right and of comity on the part of an officer of a government with which the United States maintains friendly relations, to remove at once the obstacles which he has placed in the way of Tan’s release or delivery to you. You may say that you are desirous of closing this incident in a friendly way locally but that continued illegal detention of Tan at Japanese instance or at the instance of the Japanese-sponsored local régime will of course impel the American Government to take up the matter directly with the Japanese Government at Tokyo.
3.
The Department suggests that in future you report to the Embassy any similar cases as soon as practicable after they come to your attention.

Repeated to Chungking and Peiping. Peiping please repeat to Tokyo.

Hull
  1. Not printed.↩
  2. Paul V. McNutt, United States High Commissioner at Manila.↩