793.94/14089: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Consul General at Hong Kong (Southard)
Your October 15, 6 p.m., in regard to travel of Americans by motor car in areas of hostilities around Canton and Swatow, which you should repeat to Peiping with this reply for relay to Tokyo.
[Page 502]Please reply to the Japanese Consul General that on October 16 the American Ambassador to Japan, in response to two communications, reiterated to the Japanese Foreign Office the previously expressed attitude of the American Government that though American nationals have been and are being advised to take certain measures for their safety and for the protection of their property, and that so far as practicable and reasonable such nationals are doing so, nevertheless obligation to avoid injury to American lives and property rests upon the Japanese military authorities irrespective of whether American nationals do or do not take such precautionary measures; and that the American Ambassador added that the American Government expects scrupulous observance of the assurance given by the Japanese Government that it intends to respect foreign interests and to make the “best of efforts” to prevent any damage to them.
Repeat to Canton, Swatow and Chungking.