893.76/105
The Chinese Ministry for Foreign Affairs to the American Embassy in China83
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs presents its compliments to the American Embassy and has the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the Embassy’s third person note of May 25, 1938,84 in respect of the exchange of messages by the radio station at Manila of the Mackay Radio and Telegraph Company and the radio station at San Francisco of the R. C. A. Communications, Inc., both American companies, with the radio station illegally established by the Japanese at Shanghai. The Embassy stated that the matter had been referred to the American Consul General at Shanghai.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has now received a telegram from the Ministry of Communications reading as follows:
“The companies concerned have not yet discontinued the exchange of messages. It is observed that the arbitrary establishment by the Japanese of a radio station at Shanghai, and their presumptuous use of the call letters formerly employed by the International Radio Station of this Ministry actually constitute a violation of the sovereign rights of China. The relations between the United States and China have always been intimate and the United States has, in the past, respected China’s sovereignty. Furthermore, the exchange of messages by American telegraph companies with others in foreign countries should, as has been the practice, have the approval of the Federal Communications Commission. The exchange of messages by the said companies with the radio station illegally established at Shanghai is, it is presumed, not supported or approved by the American Government. Aside from requesting the Federal Communications Commission of the United States by telegraph to investigate the matter and to take appropriate action, it is requested that negotiations be conducted with the American Government to stop such activity.”
The Ministry has the honor to indite this third person note for the Embassy’s information, and to request that the Embassy inform the American Government of the exchange of messages by the radio station of the Mackay Radio and Telegraph Company at Manila and the radio station of the R. C. A. Communications, Inc., at San Francisco with the radio station illegally established by the Japanese at Shanghai and to take strict measures to stop such activity, in order [Page 470] to uphold sovereign rights and to maintain friendly relations. The Ministry also requests the honor of a reply.
affairs of the republic of china