693.002/981: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in China (Johnson)
28. Shanghai’s 158, February 26, 1 p.m., and your 100, February 26, 4 p.m., reopening of customhouses at Chinkiang and Nanking. If and when the British and French Embassies inform you that they have made approaches to the Chinese Government in regard to the question of the reopening of the Chinkiang and Nanking customhouses, you are authorized, at the first suitable opportunity, to make an oral and informal statement to the Minister of Finance or other appropriate Chinese Government official along lines as follows: [Page 505]
This Government does not wish to urge upon the Chinese Government any specific course of action in regard to the question of the reopening of the customhouses at Chinkiang and Nanking but hopes that the Chinese Government will, in considering the factors involved, give due weight to the interest which this Government has repeatedly expressed in the maintenance of the administrative integrity of the Chinese Maritime Customs.65
You are authorized to inform your British and French colleagues of the substance of this telegram.
Sent to Chungking. Repeated to Shanghai and Peiping. Peiping please transmit code text by air mail to Tokyo.