The American Minister at Bern has the honor to refer to the
Department’s telegram No. 1500 of June 25, 1943,55 regarding the communication of a statement
to the Japanese Government concerning the repeated violation by the
Japanese authorities of American diplomatic and consular property in
Japanese-occupied territory.
The Legation now desires to enclose, for the Department’s information
and records, a translation of a note addressed on February 28, 1944
to the Legation by the Swiss Foreign Office.56 This communication has as
enclosures the following documents from the Swiss representatives in
China:
These documents are also attached in single copy for the Department’s
information and records.57
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[Enclosure]
The Swiss Consul General at Shanghai
(Fontanel) to the Swiss Legation in Japan
[Shanghai,] July 30, 1943.
Report on Violation of American Official
Properties in Occupied China
I have the honour to submit to you the following facts on the
subject which I have reported on from time to time to Berne and
which have prompted the United States Government to request your
intervention with the Gaimusho.58
1) United States Properties
not taken over.
Following protracted negotiations with the Japanese Authorities
immediately after the outbreak of hostilities, I took over
during the months of April/June 1942 all American (as well as
British and Dutch) diplomatic and consular properties in
Occupied China with the exception of those at Tientsin, Swatow
and Amoy.
a) American Consulates
at Amoy and Swatow. At the time of the departure of the
former American officials from these two ports, the latter
handed over the keys to the respective Japanese Consulates and
appointed caretakers to look after the premises and properties
of the United States Government. It was not at the time possible
for me to send any delegate to Swatow and Amoy for the taking
over of these properties.
The arrangements made by the out-going American Consuls were
therefore left to stand—only during April/May of this year was
it possible to send a delegate in the person of Mr. Zulauf from
Canton to visit these places, when it was ascertained by the
latter that at Swatow all official American archives (as also
the British) had been removed by the Japanese Authorities, while
those at Amoy were found to be intact.
b) American Consulate
General at Tientsin. As reported to you in my letter
dated July 1st 1942, the Japanese Authorities in Tientsin agreed
to hand over the American Consulate General (as also British
official properties) to my representative, Consul O. Joerg, only
on the condition that the latter agreed in writing to a Japanese
memorandum on the subject which contained a clause that the
Japanese Authorities reserved the right to inspect all official
records and confiscate any documents they might consider
necessary. Mr. Joerg having refused to accept custody of the
American official properties under these conditions, the local
negotiations on the subject broke down.
In your reply dated July 21st 1942, to my aforementioned letter,
you stated that you would take this matter up with the competent
[Page 1180] authorities, but
so far I appear to have remained without further news.
The fact remains that up to this time, the official consular
properties still remain in the custody of the Japanese
Authorities.
In connection with some water damage and theft which occurred to
some of this American official property at Tientsin, the State
Department again asked for an explanation as to why these
properties had not yet been taken over by my representative. I
should greatly appreciate it, therefore, if you could offer me
any further information on this matter.
2) Violation of American
official Archives.59
-
a)
-
Canton. During October and December
1942, the Japanese Military Authorities at Canton repeatedly
approached my representative there, Consul Hoffmeister, for
permission to examine the American (also British) archives
stored at the American Consulate General, which some three
or four months previously had been taken over by Mr.
Hoffmeister. Acting under threat by the Military Authorities
that entry into the premises would be forced, Mr.
Hoffmeister finally was authorized by me to hand over the
keys to the Authorities concerned. The Japanese officials
actually entered the American Consulate on November 20th and
22nd 1942 and were seen removing from the premises several
sacks of American official records. A copy of Mr.
Hoffmeister’s report on the incident is herewith
enclosed.60
- Needless to say, Mr. Hoffmeister immediately filed a
strong protest against the violation of the American
archives.
-
b)
-
American Embassy Peking. At the time
of the departure of the American officials from Peking, the
American Embassy Compound [Page 1181] was provisionally handed over to my
representative, Dr. R. Hoeppli, while the American archives
were jointly sealed both by my representative and the
Japanese Embassy officials. According to arrangements made,
the latter were to be handed over to the exclusive custody
of Dr. Hoeppli at a later date.
Under the pretext of proceeding with the official handing over,
Dr. Hoeppli was summoned by the Japanese Embassy to present
himself at the American Consulate Compound on April 6th of this
year. When he arrived at the appointed date and place, he found
that besides the Japanese Embassy officials, there were a number
of Japanese soldiers who received orders to examine the American
archives and to remove certain records. Copies of Dr. Hoeppli’s
and Dr. Vargas’ reports on the subject are herewith
enclosed.61
As was the case in Canton, Dr. Hoeppli subsequently filed a
strong protest against the action of the Japanese
Authorities.
3) Eviction from American
Embassy and consular premises:
a) Shanghai.
Shortly after the taking over of the American Consular offices
in Shanghai (March 7th 1942) consisting of four large floors and
one Vice-Consul’s apartment in the Development building, the
Japanese Consulate General informed me that owing to the lack of
office space in Shanghai, the premises occupied by the former
American Consulate were urgently needed and they accordingly
requested me to vacate the offices as soon as possible. Upon my
representations that the American consular offices should be
duly respected, the Japanese consular officials stressed that as
the lease for the premises in question had expired they were
entirely in their right to demand vacant possession of the
same.
Following further negotiations and with the approval of the State
Department, it was finally agreed to vacate two of the floors as
well as the Vice-Consul’s apartment and to remove all archives
and properties into the offices on the two remaining floors in
the Development building (4th and 5th floors). Accordingly a new
lease was signed with the Japanese supervised Realty Company in
charge of the Development building.
In the course of the last few weeks, the Japanese Consulate again
approached me with the request to vacate also the two remaining
floors now holding the American consular archives and
properties. Negotiations are still pending, but in all
probability I shall have no other alternative but to again
remove all the properties in question to some other storage
place.62
[Page 1182]
b) Nanking. The
American Embassy in Nanking consists of a large leased property
owned by a Chinese and administered by the Sin Hua Trust and
Savings Bank Limited. The lease expires in 1947, but contains
the option of renewal. For some time past the lessors have
informed me that the Japanese Authorities are very anxious to
take over the American compound in Nanking and requested that
the existing lease should be cancelled. Being put under strong
pressure by the Japanese Authorities and notwithstanding my
demand that the lease agreement must be fully respected, the
lessor, acting under duress, finally signed a new lease with the
Japanese Embassy officials in Nanking. Cables exchanged with
Berne on the matter elicited a reply from the United States
Department [of State] that they wish to retain their premises at
Nanking and that I should insist with the Authorities here that
they should respect the latter in the same way that the United
States Government respects all Japanese consular or Embassy
properties, whether owned or leased, in the United States.
Although I duly informed the local Japanese Consulate of the
State Department’s wishes, the latter at the instigation of the
Japanese Embassy in Nanking recently urged me to send a delegate
to Nanking in order to arrange for the removal of the Nanking
archives and properties stored there. Without in any way
agreeing to this request, I sent one of my staff members to
Nanking in order to examine the situation on the spot and to
ascertain whether in case of need the American properties could
be stored in the British Embassy compound.
To my surprise, my representative reported that the former
American Ambassador’s residence and the American Embassy
compound had already been occupied by the Japanese Ambassador
towards the end of May of this year and that my caretaker had
been forced to surrender the keys and leave the compound.
On being informed of these developments, the State Department
replied via Berne that they had requested you to intervene with
the Gaimusho in the matter and that pending a decision from the
latter they expect that the Japanese Authorities would not take
any further action. At the same time, they asked me to do my
utmost to protect the Embassy archives and to arrange, in case
of need, for their transfer to another place of
safe-keeping.63
c) Hankow:
Although the lease for the American Consulate General at Hankow
was still in force, the Japanese Military Authorities there
insisted that my representative remove all the archives and
official properties for storage in the British Compound; they
claimed that by military necessity they required the building in
question (Shell [Page 1183]
Building) and under these circumstances, I authorised my
representative to effect the removal, which took place on
December 5th 1942.
d) Tsinanfu: As in
the case of Hankow, the Japanese Military Authorities at the
beginning of December 1942 claimed to require the building
housing the former American Consulate General at Tsinanfu for
which the lease was still valid. In order to avoid the risk of
seeing the property removed by the Japanese Military Authorities
themselves, I instructed my representative to proceed to
Tsinanfu and to supervise the removal to the British consular
compound.64
