893.00/11493
The American Minister in China (Johnson) to the Chinese Minister for Foreign Affairs (C. T. Wang)45
Excellency: I have the honor to inform Your Excellency that I am in receipt of a report from the American Consul General at Hankow to the effect that the S. S. Itu of the Yangtze Rapid Steamship Company was boarded at Kweifu, Szechuan by armed nationalist forces on the evening of April 15, 1931 who demanded transportation for approximately two hundred troops to Ichang. Upon the request being refused approximately fifty soldiers boarded the vessel and threatened the passengers and Master and stated that the ship would be detained for three or four days if the demand was not complied with. The S. S. Itu finally sailed the next morning with some fifteen officers on board who disembarked upon the arrival of the S. S. Itu at Ichang.
I must strongly protest against such illegal acts on the part of Nationalist troops who forcibly boarded an American vessel, demanded transportation for some two hundred of their number and detained it upon their demand being refused. It must be apparent to Your Excellency that such unwarranted acts may result in the most unfortunate incidents and I am, therefore, constrained to request that Your Excellency’s Government issue immediate instructions to the appropriate military authorities at Ichang, Kweifu and elsewhere to prevent the recurrence of such unlawful acts.
I avail myself [etc.]
- Copy transmitted to the Department by the Minister in China in his despatch No. 963, May 2; received June 11.↩