793.94/9296: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Consul General at Shanghai (Gauss)
210. Your 454, August 11 [12?], 3 p.m. Following has been sent to Nanking:
“Unless you perceive strong objection, the Department desires that you call immediately on the Minister for Foreign Affairs and, referring to the suggestions which Chinese authorities have expressly made that arrangements be made to exempt the Shanghai area from hostilities, present the view that the presence or the moving into that area of Chinese troops would seem likely to aggravate the situation; [Page 383] that troops are apparently not needed there for purposes of maintaining order; and that your Government has raised question whether the Chinese Government ought not in its own interest and that of all concerned exclude its forces from that area. You should state that you are making this approach without reference to the question of the 1932 truce agreement or to the sovereign right of China. You should emphasize that the approach is based upon this Government’s solicitude with regard to the safety of its nationals and with regard to the problem of peace.
It is suggested that you may care to discuss this matter with your most interested colleagues in the hope that they may consider desirable the making of similar representations.”
You may, in your discretion, make an approach along similar lines to appropriate Chinese authorities at Shanghai.