Office of the Historian

893.102S/2531: Telegram

The Consul General at Shanghai (Lockhart) to the Secretary of State

Shanghai, July 26, 1941—1 p.m.
[Received 4:15 p.m.]

944. Department’s 148, July 27 [17], 9 p.m.

1.
I called personally and unofficially on Chen Kung-po at 5 p.m., yesterday at his private residence. We discussed, alone and in a free and informal manner, status of Chinese courts in the Settlement. He said that the Nanking régime 2 or 3 weeks ago had instructed him to take over the courts but that he had not done so because, among other reasons, he did not wish to use force; that he had recently talked informally with E. A. Long, Secretary of the Consular Body, on the subject and had asked Long to communicate information to me and to the British Consul General. That information was basis of my 824, July 9, 4 p.m. On Tuesday Chen said that Long had subsequently communicated to him my informal views. He then advanced views substantially in accord with those previously reported except that he made no mention of any contemplated communication to interested consular representatives on the subject of taking over the courts. He said, however, that Chungking agents had used the courts for political plotting on several occasions and that the courts were so used because they offered protection to the plotters. He confirmed that a judge (Kuo) was being detained at 76 Jessfield Road and intimated that Kuo was quite happy and contented and hoped to resume his judicial functions if the courts should pass to the control of Nanking. Chen expressed great displeasure over the fitness of the judges on the reorganized court in the French concession and said that if Nanking should take control of the courts in the International Settlement the judges would be men of integrity and proven honesty. He volunteered the information he had not spoken with the Japanese on the subject of the taking over of the Settlement courts and that they had not made any overtures to him on the subject and that he thought the court question was one entirely for solution by the Nanking government, whereupon I pointed out that seven governments were concerned (naming the governments signatory to the court agreement) and emphasized that any steps taken by Nanking arbitrarily to set aside that agreement would be ill-advised, creating displeasure on the part of the signatories to the agreement, leading to confusion and disorder in the Settlement, disrupting judicial processes now functioning satisfactorily and in general reopening acute political issues which, since the reorganization of the Council, had been noticeably absent in the press. On being asked directly for my advice I replied that by all means the status quo of the courts should be retained and that certainly the court signatories fully expected that there would be no [Page 870] interference with the functioning of the courts. At no time in the course of the conversation, or previously, was there conveyed on my part any implication that the disposition of the courts was a matter for discussion between the Nanking régime and the interested consuls [and] emphasis was laid throughout on the need for status quo.
2.
Chen said he would discuss the matter further with the Nanking authorities and would convey to them the substance of my observations. I came away with the feeling, the correctness of which time alone will reveal, that if Chen’s left free to exercise his discretion no attempt will be made in the near future to take over the courts, this impression, however, being to [apparent omission] Japanese position in this immediate area which might impel them either to seize the courts or persuade Nanking to do so.

Sent to Department. Repeated to Chungking and Peiping.

Lockhart