793.94/5828
The British Embassy to the Department of State
Aide-Mémoire
In reply to the State Department’s enquiries in their Aide-Mémoire of January 24th Sir Ronald Lindsay is instructed to communicate the following explanations regarding the proposed representations to the Japanese Government on the subject of the alleged abuses of privileges at Shanhaikwan.
The interpretation of the Protocol is no doubt open to argument, and proof that the Japanese have been actually guilty of abuse is lacking. Prima facie, however, the occupation of a Chinese town by Protocol troops not for the purpose of keeping open communication between Peking and the sea, which was the sole object of the Protocol, looks like an abuse. The object of the representations in the terms outlined in the Embassy’s Aide-Mémoire of January 23rd, which would be made orally and would not involve passing judgment on the action taken so far by the Japanese, would be to remind them that other Powers are interested in the maintenance of the Protocol and to avert the possibility of its being abused and of an opening being given to the Chinese to argue that it had been torn up with the acquiescence of the other signatories. Effect on the Japanese is a matter of speculation, but it does not appear to His Majesty’s Government that any harm would result, and the above object would he achieved at any rate in part.