893.113/1183
The Minister in China (MacMurray) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 13.]
Sir: With reference to your telegram No. 116, of April 2, 6 p.m.,89 and to previous correspondence respecting the cancellation of the Arms Embargo Agreement of 1919, I have the honor to enclose a copy of a minute of a conference on this subject between the British Minister, the Japanese Chargé d’Affaires ad interim, and myself on April 1st.89 It will be observed that, subsequently to informing me that the British Government had had no word from the Nationalist authorities with regard to the lifting of the embargo, my British colleague received a telegram from the British Consul General at Nanking stating that the Minister for Foreign Affairs had urgently preferred through the Consul General a request for the raising of the embargo in view of the resumption of civil strife in China. I have myself received no such request as yet. It further appears in the minute that, my colleagues appearing in some doubt as to the course of action they should recommend to their respective governments at this juncture, I pointed out that the American Government, which desired in principle to terminate the embargo, might feel constrained to act independently in the matter. Both Sir Miles Lampson and Mr. Hori remarked that in that case other Powers would scarcely have any option but to follow the same line.
I have [etc.]