793.94/11189
The Department of State to the British Embassy
Aide-Mémoire
The receipt is acknowledged of the British Embassy’s aide-mémoire of November 17 in regard to representations made by the British Ambassador at Tokyo to the Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs concerning reports of a statement alleged to have been made to the press by General Matsui, commanding officer of the Japanese troops at Shanghai, on the subject of the possible future attitude of the Japanese toward the customs, postal service, censorship, et cetera, at Shanghai.
With reference to the British Government’s inquiry whether the American Government might instruct the American Ambassador at Tokyo to make parallel representations to the Japanese Government, the American Government has informed the American Ambassador [Page 699] at Tokyo that he may, in his discretion, make an informal approach to the Japanese Foreign Office in the matter.35
In connection with General Matsui’s alleged statement, on November 12 the American Consul General at Shanghai in conversation with the Japanese Consul General took occasion to inform the Japanese Consul General that the statements reported to have been made by General Matsui were having the effect of making more difficult an already difficult situation at Shanghai. On November 17, according to information received from the American Ambassador at Tokyo, the spokesman of the Japanese Foreign Office informed press representatives that General Matsui had not been correctly quoted and that Japan had no intention of taking over the International Settlement.
- The Ambassador in Japan reported the next day that this had been done (793.94/11204).↩