793.94/3630: Telegram
The Consul at Geneva (Gilbert) to the Secretary of State
[Received 9:30 a.m.]
27. Yen, Chinese representative, called on me yesterday afternoon. He discussed at some length the Manchurian situation from the Chinese viewpoint. As to the position he would take in the Council he said that he would recapitulate the happenings respecting Manchuria since the end of the Paris session of the Council and among other things he would discuss the American note of January 7. This confirms my views of what the Chinese would do and it is my belief that the Japanese representative will follow the same course. My understanding of present League policy is, however, that an endeavor will be made to prevent this discussion from assuming the aspect of recognizing the existence of new issues and that unless a material change occurs in the situation the position will be taken that the matter is in the hands of the Commission of Inquiry and that its report will be awaited.
Yen then disclosed his hope that the United States would be represented on the Council at the present session inasmuch as his Government felt that such American representation would be a favorable element in the settlement of the controversy. He showed me telegraphic exchanges between himself and the Chinese Chargé d’Affaires in Washington in which the latter reported that in response to inquiries on this point the Department of State had been noncommittal. At the conclusion of Yen’s visit I was, however, left with a feeling of confidence that Yen would not bring forward the question of American representation in the Council. Although, of course, no absolute prediction can be made, inasmuch as China seems to be the power chiefly interested in this question, I am still more hopeful that matters will follow the line of the Consulate’s number 25, January 22, 10 a.m.41 That some discussion of this will appear under Geneva date lines in the American press is, in my opinion, inevitable.
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