793.94/6842: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in China (Johnson)64
82. Department’s 30, January 31, noon. In regard to current developments in the rumored Sino-Japanese negotiations for a rapprochement, the Department appreciates and has found informative and helpful the reports, telegraphic and mail, which the Legation, the Embassy at Tokyo and consulates in China, particularly Nanking, have sent. These reports have for the most part described particular happenings or presented particular items of information.
In endeavoring to formulate an estimate of the actual situation, the Department needs the assistance of the field in that effort, especially when, as now, developments of far-reaching importance seem to be in process. To this end, the Department requests careful study and evaluation of available evidence, analysis and concise portrayal of the situation as a whole, and carefully thought-out estimates of present and predictable trends, with reporting by telegraph and by mail. The Legation should assume primary responsibility for carrying out this instruction insofar as it relates to developments in China and should carefully coordinate and supervise the reporting work of consular officers in China on this important subject.
Repeat to Embassy at Tokyo as Department’s No. 43.
- See last paragraph for instructions to repeat to Tokyo as Department’s No. 43.↩