893.0146/813
The Department of State to the British Embassy 77
Memorandum
Reference is made to the note of the British Embassy to the Department of State (no. 392) of August 9, 1940,78 in which the British Government informed the Government of the United States of its decision to withdraw for service elsewhere the British military garrisons which had hitherto been maintained in China at Shanghai, Peiping, and Tientsin.
The Government of the United States is now giving consideration to the question of withdrawal of American Marine detachments which it has maintained ashore in China at Shanghai, Peiping, Tientsin, and Chinwangtao. For the confidential information of the British Government it may be stated that in considering this question the Government of the United States has in mind the necessity which compels it to mobilize the defense resources of the United States.
The foregoing information is made available to the British Government in accordance with understandings which officials of the Government of the United States have with officials of the British Government in reference to exchange of information and comment relating to the subject under discussion.
- Handed by the Assistant Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs (Adams) to the First Secretary of the British Embassy (Dening) on November 7 at 11 a.m. Mr. Dening said he “assumed that the British Embassy would be notified as soon as the Government of the United States had reached a decision in the matter,” and he was given an affirmative reply.↩
- Foreign Relations, 1940, vol. iv, p. 416.↩