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The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Nanking to the Chinese Legation99
A fleet of Japanese warships arrived at Shanghai yesterday. Mayor Chang telegraphed that it looked as if preparations were being made for landing troops.
It is reported that more than 50 warships under the command of a Japanese admiral are coming. The situation is becoming very critical.
This clearly sets at naught the understanding reached September 30th by the Council of the League of Nations. The situation is now becoming more critical than the situation which that understanding was intended to relieve, with the result that the trouble is spreading. All sense of justice seems to have been entirely lost.
If an outrage similar to that which has been committed in Liaoning (Manchuria) can be committed along the Chinese coast and the Yangtze River then whole China may pass under the military control of Japan.
It is the hope of the Government and people of China that the nations of the earth, in order to maintain the efficacy of the covenant of the League of Nations and the treaty for the renunciation of war and [Page 128] to preserve the status quo in the Far East and the peace of the world, will pay special attention to the movements of the Japanese fleet which is about to attack China and make a display of force along the coast and the Yangtze, and draw their just conclusions.
- Copy of telegram handed by the Chinese Chargé to Mr. Hansford S. Miller of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs on October 7, 1931.↩