FOREIGN RELATIONS, 19 3 4, VOLUME III



  6. I shall be grateful if you will be good enough to furnish me with
a reply at an early date as His Majesty's Government regard the
matter as one of urgency.
  I have [etc.]                                   D. G. OSBORNE

893.113/1562
     The Secretary of State to the British Charge (Osborne)

                                    WASHINGTON, August 10,1934.
  Sm: The receipt is acknowledged of the British Embassy's note
No. 265 of August 4, 1934, inquiring whether information to the
effect that the American Government is prepared to prevent the
export of arms to China, except in cases approved by the central
Chinese Government, is correct, and, if so, what categories of arma-
ments are covered, whether they include aircraft in any or all forms
and by what methods the American Government is seeking effectively
to attain the desired end.
  In reply I may say that since March 4, 1922, the American Gov-
ernment has controlled the export to China from the United States
of arms and munitions of war in conformity with the Proclamation of
President Harding of that date, issued in pursuance of the Joint
Resolution of Congress approved January 31, 1922, and that the
limitations prescribed operate to restrict very closely the exportation
to China of munitions of war. A copy of the Proclamation of March
4, 1922, is enclosed.82
  The Chinese Minister at Washington addressed a note to the De-
partment, under date April 20, 1934, and the Chinese Minister for
Foreign Affairs addressed a similar note under date April 21 to the
American Minister at Peiping,33 stating that the shipment of muni-
tions of war from abroad into China should be covered by permits
formally issued by the Central Government and that these permits
should be submitted to the Chinese diplomatic mission in the country
of export for examination and certification prior to the time of ship-
ment. In reply to these notes, the Department authorized the Ameri-
can Minister at Peiping to inform the Chinese Ministry of Foreign
Affairs that the American Government would continue, as heretofore,
to exercise strict control over the export to China from the United
States of arms and munitions of war; and that the regulations gov-
erning the exportation from the United States of arms and munitions
of war, as amended, now provide that exportation will be permitted
when (a) an application for license to export has been submitted by

   See Foreign Relations, 1922, vol. i, p. 726.
 " See telegram No. 196, April 28, from the Minister in China, p. 491.



508