893.00 Nanking/129: Telegram
The Minister in China (MacMurray) to the Secretary of State
[Received 10:10 a.m.]
516. Your telegram number 194, April 28, 11 a.m. Following a meeting of the five interested Ministers on April 13th [sic] at which the Japanese Minister informed us of the substance of your conversations with the Japanese Ambassador on April 25th and 27th and discussed certain suggestions of his Government as to verbal alterations which might enable you to accept the proposed draft reply to Ch’en, the British, French and Italian Ministers joined in drawing up a report to their respective Governments.
The following is a translation from the French text of this report which was sent me the same day but through some accident reached me only today:
“The most recent exchanges of views on the subject of the settlement of the Nanking affair have shown that the American Government, while disclaiming any wish to dissociate itself from the other interested powers, hesitates to adopt their point of view in regard to the usefulness of continuing negotiations entered into and of pressing the Hankow authorities to meet without delay the demands already presented explaining that indeed the State Department insists on the necessity of deferring the despatch of the answer prepared by the interested Ministers to the latest communication of Eugene Ch’en until the situation shall have been cleared up between Chiang Kaishek and the Wuhan Government.
On the other hand it suggests new alterations to the text amended at the instance of the Government at Tokyo.
The latter for its part shows itself disposed to fall in with the views of the Government at Washington and is delaying by a further examination its answer concerning the proposal that the four powers act if necessary without American participation.
In view of the fact that the question of sanctions, already set aside in order to facilitate an understanding, will necessarily come up for discussion again, and that even in its present attenuated form the common action determined on cannot receive a general assent, it seems useless to seek any longer a reconciliation at Peking of the viewpoints as to which at least two of the interested Governments do not share the views of the other three, especially since more than a month has passed without satisfaction having been obtained.
In considering the above the representatives of England, France and Italy cannot refrain from regretting that the unity of action which was realized for one moment cannot be maintained in face of a situation which nevertheless constitutes a common danger whose seriousness has not been in the least diminished; but they furthermore consider it their duty to put their respective Governments on guard against a policy of weakness which in encouraging by impunity antiforeign feeling and the activity of forces of disorder will necessarily [Page 219] result shortly in placing in even greater danger the lives and property of foreigners in China.”