861.77 Chinese Eastern/397
The Soviet Commissariat for Foreign Affairs to the German Embassy in the Soviet Union, for the Chinese Government at Nanking85
Text of the Statement
1. The Government of the Union, being guided by its invariable policy of peace, has willingly accepted the proposal of the Chinese Government, concerning the signing of a joint declaration.
2. The Government of the Union has introduced in the draft of that declaration, proposed by the Nanking Government, only absolutely necessary, and to the utmost limited, amendments and additions tending to greater precision, which were prompted by the tenor of article 2 of the Nanking draft itself (relative to the Mukden and the Peking agreements). From the very beginning of the conflict, the Government of the Union has considered, and does consider, compliance with the provisions set forth in the said amendments as the fundamental preliminary condition for the working of the conference.
3. In its Note of September 9th of the current year,86 the Nanking Government rejects the said amendments, limited to the utmost, thereby annulling also its consent, given in the draft of the declaration, in regard to the appointment of the Soviet Manager.
This consent, given in Article 3 of the Nanking draft of the declaration, could have reason or sense only in the event of the Soviet Manager and Assistant Manager being appointed immediately. In expressing itself now against the immediate appointment of these officials, the Nanking Government thereby withdraws its own original proposal, and frustrates the liquidation of the conflict by means of mutual agreement.
4. The same character of withdrawal of its own proposals attaches also to the supplementary proposal of the Nanking Government, handed to the Government of the Union on September 13th through the German Envoy,87 in which the Nanking Government substitutes for the question concerning the Soviet Manager and Assistant Manager of the road, the question of appointment of only the Assistant Manager, in open contradiction to the Mukden, as well as the Peking, agreement, and also to article 3 of its own draft of the joint declaration.
[Page 321]5. In view of the Nanking Government declining the principal conditions preparatory to the signing of the declaration and the conduct of negotiations, the question as to the place of the negotiations becomes deprived of its object, and the responsibility for the further development of the conflict devolves fully upon the Nanking Government.