393.112/31a: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Chargé in Japan (Dooman)
240. At my conference on August 2 with the press a correspondent referred to reports emanating from Tokyo that the Japanese Ambassador may be recalled and asked whether any indication of that had come to the Department, to which I replied in the negative. A correspondent then referred to a report from Tokyo that the United States had protested today through the Chargé d’Affaires and there was an impression that the protest had raised the question whether the anti-British campaign in China had become generalized into a sort of anti-foreign campaign. In reply I said that we have repeatedly stated that our representatives on the spot in the Far East are instructed to take up instances of mistreatment of Americans as they occur and to report to the State Department after they have made representations; that on occasion we have sent specific instructions to our representatives to make representations of that character; and that in this case Mr. Dooman was specifically instructed to make representations to the Foreign Office with regard to recent incidents involving American nationals in China. When asked to comment on that portion of the correspondent’s question relating to the anti-British campaign having become generalized into an anti-foreign campaign, I replied that, as we have frequently made clear, this Government maps its own course; that when its own rights and the rights of its nationals are affected we present our point of view with regard to those factors in the situation; and that we of course do not attempt to undertake to make representations on behalf of other nationals or their interests.