793.94/3170a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in China (Johnson)
455. On December 10 the Secretary of State issued a statement to the press as follows:
“The Government of the United States is gratified at the unanimous adoption by the Council of the League of Nations of the Resolution of December 10.81 This represents a definite step of progress in a long [Page 61] and difficult negotiation which M. Briand and his associates have conducted with great patience.
The Council of the League of Nations was in session on September 18 when the present situation in Manchuria first developed. China at once appealed to the Council under Article 11 of the League Covenant. The Council took immediate cognizance of this appeal, and China and Japan participated in the discussions before it in accordance with their obligations as parties to the covenant. This Government has from the beginning endeavored to cooperate with and support these efforts of the Council by representations through the diplomatic channels to both Japan and China. Not only are the American people interested in the same objective sought by the League of preventing a disastrous war and securing a peaceful solution of the Manchurian controversy, but as a fellow signatory with Japan and China in the Kellogg-Briand Pact and in the so-called Nine Power Treaty of February 6, 1922, this government has a direct interest in and obligation under the undertakings of those treaties.
The present Resolution provides for the immediate cessation of hostilities. It reaffirms the solemn pledge of Japan to withdraw her troops within the railway zone as speedily as possible. It provides for the appointment of a commission of five members to study on the spot and report to the Council on any circumstance which disturbs the peace or affects the good understandings between China and Japan. Such a provision for a neutral commission is in itself an important and constructive step towards an ultimate and fair solution of the intricate problem presented in Manchuria. It means the application with the consent of both China and Japan of modern and enlightened methods of conciliation to the solution of this problem. The principle which underlies it exists in many treaties of conciliation to which the United States is a party and which have played in recent years a prominent part in the constructive peace machinery of the world. The operation of such a commission gives time for the heat of controversy to subside and makes possible a careful study of the underlying problem.
The ultimate solution of the Manchurian problem must be worked out by some process of agreement between China and Japan themselves. This country is concerned that the methods employed in this settlement shall, in harmony with the obligations of the treaties to which we are parties, be made in a way which shall not endanger the peace of the world and that the result shall not be the result of military pressure. These are the essential principles for which the United States and the nations represented on the Council have been striving and it is in itself a signal accomplishment that there has been arrayed behind these principles in a harmonious cooperation such a solid alignment of the nations of the world.
On the other hand the adoption of this Resolution in no way constitutes an endorsement of any action hitherto taken in Manchuria. This government, as one of the signatories of the Kellogg-Briand Pact and the Nine Power Treaty, cannot disguise its concern over the events which have there transpired. The future efficacy of the Resolution depends upon the good faith with which the pledge against renewed hostilities is carried out by both parties and the [Page 62] spirit in which its provisions directed toward an ultimate solution are availed of. The American Government will continue to follow with solicitous interest all developments in this situation in the light of the obligations involved in the treaties to which this country is a party.”
Repeat to Nanking and to Tokyo.
- Supra.↩