793.94/7793: Telegram
The Counselor of Embassy in China (Peck) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 14—7 a.m.]
53. 1. This office has been informed by a responsible official of the Executive Yuan that, (1) United Press reports that the Yuan order No. 12 “decided to use armed force for the suppression of Japanese smuggling in North China” are untrue; (2) Executive Yuan, after discussing this problem decided merely to issue instructions to the natives “to employ effective measures”; (3) the Yuan is hoping to inspire commercial and other public opinion against the purchase of smuggled goods some of which are now being shipped south on both the Tientsin-Pukow and Peiping-Hankow Railways; (4) the Chinese authorities are unable to stop the smuggling operations because the Japanese military have refused to permit armed customs troops to proceed against smugglers along the coast on the ground that such action would violate the Tangku truce and have warned the Chinese against [Page 76] operations outside the 3 mile limit as being on the high seas beyond Chinese jurisdiction.
2. He said that protests filed with the Japanese Embassy here had elicited official replies that the Japanese authorities in the North would assist in suppressing smuggling into the demilitarized zone but spokesmen of the Embassy had stated unofficially that Japanese civil officials were powerless to act in the matter.