740.0011 Pacific War/2664
The Ambassador in China (Gauss) to the Secretary of State
No. 477
Chungking, June 22,
1942.
[Received July 23.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to recent
statements in the Chinese press, one of which—an editorial in the Ta Kung Pao of April 6—was brought to the attention
of the Department by my despatch no. 374 of April 16, 1942,4 to the effect that the Liu Chiu
Islands would be separated from Japan in the peace settlement, and to
enclose a copy of a memorandum of a conversation in which the Director of
the Eastern Asiatic Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied
Chinese claims to the Islands.
Respectfully yours,
[Enclosure]
Memorandum by the Third Secretary of Embassy in
China (Service) to the Ambassador in
China (Gauss)
[Chungking,] June 17, 1942.
Subject: Formosa and the Liu Chiu (Riukiu) Islands
During a general conversation this afternoon at the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs with Dr. Yang Yun-chu, Director of the Eastern
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Asiatic Affairs Department, I mentioned
the several recent statements in the Chinese press about the return of
Formosa and the Liu Chius to China after the war.
Regarding Formosa, he said that its return seemed fitting to the Chinese
because the greater part of the population was Chinese and had continued
to maintain close ties with China.
Regarding the Liu Chius, he said that it was unfortunately inevitable
during wartime that there should be exaggerated statements by private
individuals concerning war aims; that the truth of the matter was that
the people of the Liu Chius were not Chinese and the number of Chinese
residents there probably were not more than a few tens, that the
islands, which had only been tributary to China, had been entirely
separated from it for almost eighty years; that they were unimportant
economically and strategically, and that they were now in effect an
integral part of Japan, to which they were geographically closely
related. He was sure, therefore, that neither the Minister for Foreign
Affairs nor any other part of the Chinese Government contemplated their
return to China in a peace settlement.
