793.94/3694: Telegram
The Consul General at Nanking (Peck) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 29—7:58 a.m.]
18. 1. Lo Wen-kan was yesterday appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs and Wang Ching-wei President of the Executive Yuan. Both have today assumed office.
2. The Minister of Foreign Affairs asked me to call on him at 11:45. Hsu Mo, who will be appointed Vice Minister, was also present. The Minister of Foreign Affairs gave me an account of the hostilities between [Page 92] Japanese and Chinese troops at Shanghai beginning at about January 28, midnight, as they have been reported to the Chinese Government. He depicted the extreme gravity of the situation and then gave me an oral message which he requested that I telegraph direct to the Department in view of the urgency of the situation at Shanghai. The substance of his message is as follows:
2. [3?] “China as a signatory power to the Nine-Power Treaty and the Pact for the Renunciation of War has consistently endeavored throughout the controversy with Japan to fulfill her obligations under those treaties. Adherence to these covenants has not, however, deprived China of right to act in self-defense and there is a limit to the power of endurance and restraint of any nation. The act of the Japanese forces at Shanghai during the night of January 28th in invading Chinese territory and attacking Chinese forces was a violation by Japan of both of the treaties named and every moment threatens to bring China to the point at which it will be impossible to restrain the Chinese people from taking measures of self-defense. The Chinese Government invites special attention to the fact that the Japanese attack on Chinese forces started about midnight whereas 1:45 in the afternoon of the same day the Chinese authorities delivered to the Japanese a reply to the Japanese demands which the Japanese themselves had admitted was satisfactory. China is determined to refrain as long as possible from engaging in war with Japan but action in self-defense under conditions like this may become inescapable. The character of Shanghai as a huge international center makes the threat of military action there more than a question involving China and Japan alone for the danger and loss will involve many nations. In these circumstances China, as a signatory to the two treaties named, appeals to the United States as the nation which may be regarded as primarily responsible for those covenants to take immediate friendly measures to bring the hostile acts on the part of Japan to an immediate end. A similar appeal is being made orally to the Governments of France and Great Britain through their diplomatic officers in Nanking. The Minister of Foreign Affairs has telegraphed to the American Minister at Peiping asking him in view of the grave situation at Shanghai to come to Nanking at once.”
Repeated to Legation.