893.74/351
The British Chargé (Chilton) to the Secretary of State
Sir: With reference to the informal discussions between Mr. Leland Harrison and Mr. Craigie of His Majesty’s Embassy on May 15th [Page 809] and to Mr. Harrison’s letter to Mr. Craigie of June 28th last relative to the amendments in their contract which the Federal Wireless Company are seeking from the Chinese Government, I have the honour, under instructions from His Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, to acquaint you with the following information:
His Majesty’s Government understand from His Majesty’s Representative at Peking that the following provision occurs in Article 17 of the Federal Company’s supplementary agreement dated September 9, 1921.19
“All Radio messages from China and for United States shall be handled by Federal Chinese Radio Administration for twenty years from date of completion of last station provided for under agreement”.
His Majesty’s Government have instructed me to enquire whether the above information is correct and, if so, to point out that this clause would appear to be inconsistent not only with the assurances given verbally by Mr. Harrison to Mr. Craigie and reaffirmed in Mr. Harrison’s letter of June 28th, but also with the statement contained in section 2 of the memorandum drawn up by the experts in Washington on February 4th, 1922, to the effect that “the existing Federal concession contains no monopoly or exclusive privileges.”
I have the honour to ask that you will be so good as to communicate to me at your earliest convenience the views of the United States Government on the above points for transmission to His Majesty’s Government.
I have [etc.]