893.00P.R.Harbin/15
The Consul at Harbin (Hanson) to the Minister in China (MacMurray)67
Sir:
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The Soviet officials received a shock when the local Chinese authorities, acting on instructions from Mukden, took over by force and without compensation the city’s telephone system which had been installed at an expense of over local $1,000,000 and managed by the Chinese Eastern Railway. The Soviet officials fear that this drastic move will be followed by the taking over by the Chinese of the whole railway, which is really the property of the Russian people and which is now administered by a Soviet General Manager and a Board of Directors, consisting of five Chinese and five Soviet Russians. There is danger of radicalism on the part of the Chinese authorities, but it will be directed more against Soviet Russians and their property than against [Page 189] other foreigners. Soviet Russia cannot take strong action against Manchuria because of fear of complications on the Polish border and of Japan, and the Chinese authorities know this and are acting accordingly.
Some press reports have stated that Soviet Russia is attempting to sell its rights to the Railway to either France or Japan, but it is doubtful if the governments of these last named two countries desire to become mixed up in an already complicated situation.
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I have [etc.]
- Copy transmitted to the Department by the Consul in his despatch No. 4724, of the same date; received February 11, 1929.↩