393.115/170
The Secretary of State to President Roosevelt
I think that we now have a very good foundation for holding Japan accountable in dollars for the acts of her military organizations in China. While we do not have sufficiently accurate information in very many cases to enable us to present separate claims at this time, the groundwork has been laid and we have been able in a few instances to obtain admissions of liability from Japan, and in one case payment locally of a small claim has actually been made.
[Page 256]On August 26, 1937 we instructed the Embassy at Tokyo to present a note to the Minister of Foreign Affairs stating that this Government reserved all rights in respect of damages to or loss of American property or on account of death or injuries sustained by American nationals as a result of the activities of Japanese armed forces in China.47
The Foreign Office replied on August 31,48 stating in effect that the Japanese Government was solicitous of the safety of lives and property of Japanese and other nationals in China and had spared no effort to prevent the then present incident from assuming large proportions; that the military operations of Japanese forces were confined to measures of defense against illegal provocative attacks on the part of China and that in those circumstances the Japanese Government was not liable for damages or losses sustained by nationals of other countries.
In order to avoid possible assumption by the Japanese Government that this Government acquiesced in this disclaimer of liability, we instructed the Embassy on September 1449 to send another note to the Foreign Office stating that this Government could not accept this position of the Japanese Government and that we would be under the necessity of looking to that Government for compensation to the extent that liability exists under international law.
The Japanese Government did not formally reply to this last mentioned note but an official of the Foreign Office orally stated to a member of the Embassy that the views previously expressed by the Foreign Office had not been altered.
We make strong representations to the Japanese Government in all cases of depredations upon American life or property as rapidly as the incidents are brought to our attention. In practically all cases the Japanese Government disclaims any intention of injuring American life or property, and in a number of instances they have indicated willingness to make reparation. In one case, namely that of the American Board Mission at T’ungchow, a local settlement satisfactory to the Mission was made for damage caused by the dropping of bombs by Japanese planes.
I have just sent an instruction to Tokyo50 regarding telegram No. 142 of January 26 concerning the mission properties at Soochow and Hangchow, to which you refer, and have directed the Ambassador to make strong representations to the Foreign Office and to request assurances [Page 257] that immediate and specific steps will be taken to put an end to these depredations and that full and complete indemnification will be made.
I appreciate that there is a vast amount of Japanese property in the United States and that there is precedent for sequestration of property under certain circumstances; also that we have the Trading with the Enemy Act, making provision for an alien property custodian, as a precedent. That Act, however, as you know, applied only to property of people denominated as “enemies” within the meaning of the Act. It really is a precedent only for a situation where the United States is a belligerent.
- For note of August 27, 1937, from the Ambassador in Japan to the Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs, see Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941, Vol. i, p. 490.↩
- Ibid., p. 492.↩
- Ibid., p. 497.↩
- Department’s telegram No. 33, February 2, 5 p.m., supra.↩