893.102S/1878: Telegram
The Consul General at Shanghai (Gauss) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 10—10 a.m.]
808. The number of Japanese gendarmerie and Chinese police of the puppet Municipal Regime in the western extra-Settlement roads area (British and Italian defense sectors) has been largely increased by gradual infiltration. It is anticipated that the next step will be an attempt to prohibit the Shanghai municipal police from patrolling these roads and giving protection to the large number of foreign including American residents of the area. As the Department is aware, the Japanese gendarmes and their Chinese police who control the enclaves between these roads in the western district have permitted extensive gambling establishments and narcotic dens there and the enclaves are nests of gunmen and thugs.
- 2.
- Secretary of the Municipal Council has interviewed the Mayor of the Japanese sponsored Municipal Regime who admits that action for taking over the western area is contemplated in the very near future. Information from other sources confirms that this is the intention of the Japanese controlled regime and the Japanese military. Secretary of the Council pointed out that the Council can not turn over this area as desired, that any violent action taken by the Chinese police or others would imperil the safety of foreign residents and arouse the keenest resentment of the interested foreign powers, and that the matter of policing the roads should be discussed with a view to some local [Page 75] arrangement. The Mayor said he would communicate with the Reformed Government. Secretary of the Council also communicated with Japanese Consul General urging that he use his personal influence to preserve the status quo and prevent any violent action.
- 3.
- At a meeting this morning attended by the British Ambassador and Consul General, American and British members of the Council, municipal officials and myself it was agreed that the Council should carry on conversations with the Mayor with a view to seeking a local arrangement. At the same time the British Consul General and I will separately approach the Japanese Consul General and other interested consular representatives will be urged to do likewise. It was also agreed that British Ambassador and I would report to our respective Governments and suggest that such pressure as may be possible be brought to bear at Tokyo.
- 4.
- I am seeking an appointment with my Japanese colleague and shall point out to him that there are numerous Americans resident in the area in question whose safety is a matter of serious concern to the American authorities, that the conditions permitted by the Japanese gendarmerie and Chinese police in the enclaves in this area have my serious concern for the safety of my nationals in the area, that speaking very frankly any attempt to prevent the municipal police from patrollings and afford protection to the residents along patrollings would be regarded by the American authorities as a most serious matter, that this problem of the extra-Settlement roads is, as he knows, a difficult one, in which, in normal times in the past, the Japanese have always taken a position in support of the Municipal Council, that I have not failed to note that the effort of the Japanese sponsored municipal regime to obtain control is confined to the western area where there are large American and European interests and very small Japanese interests while nothing is said about the extra-Settlement road areas in the northern districts where Japanese interests are predominant, that I take a very serious view of the present activities of the Japanese gendarmerie and their Chinese police in the western area, and that in reporting the situation to my Government I am emphasizing the serious threat to the safety of American and other foreign nationals of action intended to take over resident area and prevent the Municipal police from patrollings and protecting the nationals resident along such roads. I shall urge that the reported move to take over this area be stopped and that an understanding be reached between the Council and the Mayor along lines similar to those which have been in effect in the past.
Repeated to Tokyo, Peiping and Chungking.