Statement by the Secretary of State, September 4, 194096
In response to inquiries by press correspondents, the Secretary of State made the following statement:
“On August 15, at a meeting made necessary by notification that the British defense forces at Shanghai would be withdrawn, the Shanghai Defense Committee voted to assign Sector D in the International Settlement Defense Plan to the Japanese defense forces and Sector B to the American defense forces. This decision was reached by a majority vote, the commanding officer of the Japanese forces voting ‘No’. The majority vote was subsequently approved by the Shanghai Municipal Council. As the American Consulate General [Page 112] and a considerable number of other important American interests are located in Sector B, which sector lies between the present American sector and the waterfront at which American naval vessels are customarily anchored, the Government of the United States gave its approval and informed the Japanese Government that this plan was agreeable to it.
“In view of the Japanese dissent, neither Sector D nor Sector B has been taken over by the defense forces. Special protection in Sector B is temporarily being provided by the Shanghai Volunteer Corps, pending arrival at an agreement. As this matter is of substantial importance to all concerned, discussions are in progress between this Government and the Japanese Government96a with regard especially to Sector B, and it is the hope of this Government that a reasonable settlement, considerate of all interests involved, for assumption of responsibility in Sector D by the Japanese defense forces and in Sector B by the American defense forces will soon be arrived at.”96b
- Reprinted from Department of State, Bulletin, September 7, 1940 (vol. iii, No. 63), p. 197.↩
- See par. (2) of telegram No. 334, September 3, 1940, 6 p.m., to the Ambassador in Japan, p. 291.↩
- For further discussion of this subject, see memorandum by the Under Secretary of State, September 20, 1940, vol. i, p. 877.↩