Office of the Historian

840.51 Frozen Credits/4168: Telegram

The Counselor of Embassy in China (Butrick) to the Secretary of State

Peiping, October 31, 1941—2 p.m.
[Received November 4—8:42 p.m.]

335. Department’s 181, September 27, 7 p.m.73 Reciprocal arrangement for unfreezing blocked official accounts. With the exception of [Page 900] the Consulate General at Mukden, Embassy has received no reply to its circular telegram of October 4 (repeated to Department)75 indicating that any American official establishment or employee in Japanese occupied areas has a bank account in China which is subject to retaliatory freezing measures. Particulars required from Mukden were furnished the Embassy in Tokyo [on] October 6.

So far as the Embassy is aware, none of the retaliatory freezing measures in force in China has been abolished or modified in favor of American official establishments and personnel to such an extent that if such establishments and personnel had accounts in a bank in China those accounts would be as free from restrictions on withdrawals and investments as are the accounts in the United States of Japanese official establishments and personnel. In short, the arrangement for reciprocal treatment is not in effect in China.

Sent to the Department, repeated to Chungking and Tokyo.

Butrick
  1. Not printed; it was similar to Department’s telegram No. 623, September 27, 7 p.m., to the Ambassador in Japan, p. 890.↩
  2. Not printed.↩