811.91293/150
The Consul at Nanking (Price) to the Minister in China (MacMurray)9
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the Legation’s Instruction of April 5, 1929, enclosing the Department’s Instruction to the Legation, No. 1133, of March 1, 1929 (File No. 811.91293/131 and 139) requesting information on the subject of the existing regulations governing the importation and use of radio apparatus now current under the Nationalist Government of China.
In amplification of my telegram of April 19th, 12 Noon,10 on the subject, I beg to quote the following pertinent portion of a letter dated April 17, 1929, addressed to me by Mr. K. I. Nieh, of the Ministry of Communications in response to my oral request for information: [Page 835]
“I am sending you, with this letter, a volume of the International Radiotelegraph Convention of Washington, 1927.11 As there are not yet any regulations prepared in this Ministry, this is the fundamental convention to which most of the radio affairs are controlled accordingly.
“An order from the Central Government was issued lately stating that any radio apparatus imported from foreign countries must first apply for permission from the Ministry of War. This is the only order or law, as I know, from the Chinese Government regarding radio administrations.”
In this general relation the following item from the Kuo Min News Agency’s Press release under date of April 18, 1929, may be of interest to the Legation:
“In a ministerial order to the Commissioner of Foreign Affairs for Kiangsu, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs instructs that a strong protest be lodged with the French Consul-General in Shanghai, against the despatching and receiving of commercial messages by the French (Koukaza) Radio Station. The order points out that the operation of the French Radio Station in Shanghai for commercial purposes constitutes a violation of International Conventions.”
It is thought that possibly the Legation may be able to secure from the French Legation a statement as to the nature of the specific charges of violation of International Conventions brought by the Chinese authorities.
I have [etc.]
- Copy transmitted to the Department by the Minister in China in his despatch No. 2070, May 3; received June 10, 1929.↩
- Quoted in telegram No. 306, April 22, from the Minister in China (811.91293/145).↩
- For text of convention, see Foreign Relations, 1927, vol. i, p. 288.↩