793.94/4654
Memorandum by the Secretary of State
The Chinese Chargé d’Affaires, Dr. Hawkling Yen, called on me to show me a telegram which he had received from Dr. Yen, at Geneva, in which Dr. Yen recited the resolution of the Assembly,67 apparently the one of Saturday, and asked the Chargé to see me in order that our [Page 532] Minister might be instructed that the Conference at Shanghai was to be carried on in accordance with that resolution. The Chargé was in some confusion as to when this resolution of the Assembly took place—he thought it passed today. I told the Chargé that I thought he was mistaken and that it was passed Saturday; that I had already instructed Johnson to attend the Conference and that I thought that my instructions to him accorded with the resolution of the Assembly. I told him that my view was that the military situation in Shanghai should be liquidated by itself and that the Conference should not be carried on in a way which would permit outside questions to be brought up against China under the pressure of the military occupation. The Chargé expressed himself as satisfied with my statement and afterwards he told me that he wished to express also the great satisfaction which his Government and his people took in my expressions towards China in the Borah letter. I told him that in those expressions I tried to state the historic policy of this country which would continue as the policy of this Government but, of course, this did not mean that this Government was taking sides in any other way in the present controversy. The Chargé said he understood that perfectly.