393.115/807: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in China (Johnson)
291. Your 627, December 12, 3 p.m. As we have made complaint that numerous communications from our officials in China to the Japanese authorities have not received reply, the Department believes that it would be advisable for the Consul General at Shanghai to reply further to the Japanese Consul General’s communication of November 20.
It is not clear from your telegram as received whether the preliminary reply of the Consul General at Shanghai included the statements contained in the last sentence of the first substantive paragraph of your telegram. If not, it is suggested that the supplemental reply include substantially those statements and that there be added statements along lines as follows: The appropriate American consular officers will be instructed to advise, where possible, Americans and American organizations who have not already furnished maps of their property to prepare and forward such maps as a voluntary action on their part in compliance with the request of the Japanese authorities.8 It is to be noted, however, that there are residing in interior places a large number of Americans with whom communication is difficult, delayed and sometimes impossible, and the Japanese authorities [Page 423] will accordingly appreciate the fact that a complete cataloguing and mapping of the numerous scattered American properties is not practicable.
Sent to Peiping. Repeated to Shanghai. Peiping please repeat to Tokyo.
- The Embassy at Peiping on January 5, 1940, sent out a circular (No. 138) which included this advice.↩