793.94/12345
The American Embassy in Japan to the Japanese Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Aide-mémoire
Certain Chinese, understood to be the nominees of the Japanese military, having taken over the Consolidated Tax Office in the International Settlement at Shanghai, the American Consul General at Shanghai informed the Japanese Consul General on December 12, 1937, of the interest of the United States in the consolidated taxes.
The consolidated taxes are security for the wheat, flour and cotton credits of 1931 and 1933, which now form a consolidated obligation of the Chinese Government, held by the Export-Import Bank of Washington. The American Government insists that the Japanese authorities take no action, or countenance action, in areas from which the legitimate Chinese authorities have withdrawn, by any provisional regime, which fails adequately to take into account the aforementioned obligation of the Chinese Government to the Export-Import Bank.
The American Government reserves the right to hold the Japanese authorities accountable for action disregardful of American interests in this matter.