811.7493 (M) R.C.A./6
Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs (Hornbeck)
On Wednesday, April 6, Dr. Hawkling Yen, Chinese Chargé called on me and read in translation from a telegram from Nanking in which [Page 686] it was stated that the Radio Corporation of America was understood to be on the point of making a contract with the new administration in Manchuria with regard to use of the Mukden radio station. The Chinese Government hoped that the American Government would restrain the Radio Corporation from this action.
I explained to Dr. Yen that the American Government had no authority by which it could prevent action of this type by an American company. There followed argument by Dr. Yen to the effect that it was desirable that nothing be done which would facilitate the consolidation of the authority of the new Manchuria régime.
On April 8, Colonel Manton Davis of the Radio Corporation called on me and informed me with regard to developments in relation to the radio station at Mukden and the station at Shanghai. In relation to Mukden, he stated that the Corporation was concluding a contract with the new authorities which would be identical with the old contract but with the addition of certain articles or supplementary articles which would state that the action was provisional. There followed some discussion, in the course of which I said to Colonel Davis that the transaction would have to be considered strictly as one which the Corporation entered on its own responsibility and at its own risk; that the American Government could neither approve nor disapprove; and that it must be understood that the action was taken without anything in the nature of a “blessing” by this Government. In saying this, I followed the line of reasoning which is laid down in this Division’s memorandum (RCM) of April 7.55 Colonel Davis said that the Corporation so understood.
- Memorandum by Raymond C. Mackay not printed.↩