893.102S/2470: Telegram
The Consul General at Shanghai (Lockhart) to the Secretary of State
[Received 6:35 p.m.]
Chungking’s April 13 [15], 6 p.m. At a 2-hour conference yesterday with our Japanese colleague the British Consul General and I discussed the matter of the selection of councilors by the Chinese Ratepayers Association, having in mind the telegram sent from Chungking April 14, signed by the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Chinese Ratepayers Association at Shanghai, stating that of the 5 members previously nominated 4 would not [sic] serve on the new provisional council, the name omitted being that of Yu Ya-ching. The Japanese Consul General was informed of Chungking’s acquiescence in provisional arrangement subject to the two conditions named in Chungking’s April 11, 11 a.m. to Shanghai. The Japanese Consul General stated that he could not recognize validity of these nominations as telegram of April 14 did not reflect attitude of Chinese ratepayers in Shanghai; that they had not been consulted by the Chairman and Vice Chairman and that the Chungking Government did not have the right to impose conditions on their acceptance of the provisional arrangement; that if this were so the Nanking government would claim the same right and would nominate four Nanking representatives. Japanese colleague stated that Nanking authorities had agreed to compromise by even division of 4 seats amongst present Chinese members of Council and acquiescence in nominees, i. e., 2 Chungking nominees and 2 Nanking nominees. My British colleague and I emphasized necessity for obtaining acquiescence of Chinese Government and pointed out that without such consent it might be difficult to obtain assent of foreign governments concerned. My British colleague suggested that difficulty might be solved by leaving nomination of Chinese members of Council in abeyance for a while, but I was not prepared to agree to this, making only noncommittal comment.
In the meantime Muncipal Council had received a letter of April 14 bearing seal and chop of Chinese Ratepayers Association from Chen [Page 853] Chi-chen who described himself as Vice Chairman of the Association. The reply acknowledged the receipt of a letter from the Municipal Council dated April 9 (which letter requested names of four Chinese councilors) as [and] stated [that] at a meeting of representatives of the association a resolution had been passed to the effect that L. T. Yuan and Yulin Hsi shall continue to serve on the Council and that the two remaining seats shall be filled by Jabin Hsu and [Theodore] Chang, the last two said to be Nanking adherents. Late yesterday afternoon at a meeting of the British and American members of the present Council it was decided that they would have no option but to accept this communication as a valid reply to their letter asking for nomination of Chinese members to the Council. Last night an American member of the Council discovered that the orginal of the Council’s letter of April 9 had been sent to the Chairman of the Chinese Ratepayers Association who was understood to be in Hong Kong but who appears now to be in Chungking and that the ratepayers here had acted on accord with a copy of the letter.
The whole affair of the selection of the 4 Chinese ratepayers has become so confused because of the disputed authority between Chungking and Nanking that the Council is faced with an extremely confining [confusing?] problem and one which the Council members are today endeavoring to solve before the ratepayers’ meeting this afternoon. Council members are now considering the possibility of accepting the 4 members designated in the Chairman’s telegram despatched from Chungking on April 14 and subsequently recognizing members selected by the Chinese ratepayers here to take the place of 2 absent members. This would result in 2 Chungking members and 2 Nanking members. Three of the 4 members mentioned in the Chungking telegram of April 14 are absent from Shanghai. What the decision will be on the proposal now under consideration cannot be foreseen at present. I believe it to be the hope of the present British and American councilors that the Chungking authorities will not put insuperable obstacles in the way of a compromise agreement which would enable 2 Chungking representatives and 2 Nanking representatives to function on the Council. It is feared that a last moment wrecking of the plan for the establishment of the provisional council will throw the municipal affairs into an even greater state of confusion than now exists.
Sent to Chungking, repeated to Department and Peiping, code text by air mail to Tokyo.