893.113/249: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in China (Schurman)
183. Department’s 160, June 29, 3 p.m.
The following excerpts from telegrams are communicated for your guidance and discussion with your interested colleagues and more particularly the British Minister.
On June 2 the Department telegraphed London:
“The Department notes with satisfaction that the British Government desires the so-called Chinese Arms Embargo placed on a more satisfactory basis. The British Government will recall that at the Conference on the Limitation of Armament an effort was made to strengthen the existing declaration but that the Italian delegates were not then prepared to adopt the resolution which was offered and which was finally amended.”
On June 29, the Department telegraphed London in the sense of Department’s 160, June 29, 3 p.m. The Foreign Office in its reply stated inter alia:
“His Majesty’s Government are fully in accord with the policy embodied in this resolution and are already putting it into practical effect so far as the United Kingdom is concerned.”
“Owing however to the different interpretation which has been put by the various governments upon the embargo policy in the past His Majesty’s Government have recently proposed to the powers concerned that the whole question should be reviewed by the diplomatic [Page 738] representatives at Peking in order that the embargo may be not only reaffirmed but if thought desirable extended and more precisely defined.”
“The diplomatic representatives at Peking are best able to judge what action is desirable in order to strengthen the existing embargo and it may be that they will reach the conclusion that the resolution quoted above sufficiently meets the needs of the situation in which case it could then formally be adopted by all the powers concerned. On the other hand the diplomatic representatives may consider that something further is required in which event His Majesty’s Government trust that the United States Government and the other governments concerned would be willing to consider carefully whether they could not take any further action recommended by their representatives at Peking and seek such additional legislative powers if any as might be required for this purpose.
“In the circumstances His Majesty’s Government are inclined to think that it would be preferable to await the outcome of the discussions at Peking before proceeding with the formal adoption of this resolution.”
Tokyo has been instructed to repeat its 120, July 17, 1 p.m. which contains Japanese Government’s reply.
The French, Belgian and Portuguese Governments have not yet replied.
At the discussions with your interested colleagues you will bear in mind both the limited terms of the statute which prohibits only the exportation to China of “arms and munitions of war” and the difficulty and perhaps improbability of obtaining further legislation, and also the assurance already given to the interested powers by this Government in the case of the Bethlehem Steel Contract (See Department’s May 4, 2 p.m. repeated from Tokyo74).