File No. 761.94/109
Ambassador Guthrie to the Secretary of State
Tokyo, July 17, 1916.
Referring to my telegram of the 7th instant, 12 p.m., transmitting a statement of the substance of the Russo-Japanese Convention, as issued to the press by the Foreign Office on that date, I have the honor to state that the full text was published in the Official Gazette on the 8th and to forward herewith a copy of the French version.
The wording of the two articles of the convention is the same as that contained in my telegram, and the only addition is the preamble, which states that the two Governments are resolved to unite their efforts for the maintenance of permanent peace in the Far East.
The vernacular newspapers also report that agreements supplementary to the convention have been concluded, by which Russia [Page 438] will sell to Japan the section of the Chinese Eastern Railway between Changchun and the second Sungari station, and will extend to Japanese the right of navigation on the Sungari River, which by the Treaty of Aigun (1854) had been reserved exclusively to Russian and Chinese subjects.
This report is substantially confirmed by a public statement of the Department of Agriculture and Commerce, published in the newspapers of the 9th instant, discussing the commercial benefits to be derived by Japan from these two concessions. It appears to be generally understood that the compensation for the railway will take the form of supply of war materials.
It is stated in the press that the announcement of these agreements has been delayed, pending the settlement of certain details, such as the valuation of the section of the railway to be transferred, the disposition of the private rights of Russian subjects engaged in navigation on the Sungari, et cetera, and also pending the formal consent of China to the assignment of the concessions in question.
The Yamato Shimbun and the Yorozu Choho report that Japan will further secure the right of fishery on the coast of the Maritime Provinces. The latter paper, moreover, surmises that Russia has also decided to deliver to Japan in payment for munitions the unredeemed balance of its Boxer indemnity bonds.
Some of the newspapers allege that Japan tried to secure the entire railway line between Changchun and Harbin, as well as the cession of the northern half of Saghalien, but that Russia declined to accede to these proposals.
A number of the newspapers had published reports of the existence in the convention of secret terms, in regard to the nature of which they had made various speculations. One of the clauses which they had supposed to be secret turned out to be in substance the same as Article II of the published agreement. Other items which one or another of the papers alleged to be confidential parts of the treaty were: (1) a definition of the respective positions and interests of the two nations in Manchuria and Mongolia, (2) mutual consent to the residence and trade of the subjects of the one within the sphere of influence of the other, and (3) a stipulation not to extend beyond the present limits the military preparations at Maizuru and Vladivostok.
However, subsequent to the publication of the convention on the 8th instant, the leading newspapers profess to have come to the conclusion that there are no secret terms, that the previous reports in regard thereto are wholly unfounded.
The convention is regarded as the natural culmination of the increasing rapprochement between Japan and Russia during the past ten years, first expressed in the convention of 1907 and later in that of 1910, and finally brought to its full realization through their cooperation in the present war. It is also accepted as an evidence of the perfect community of the interests of the two nations.
The Japanese people and press, government and opposition, unite in welcoming the new convention as an event scarcely second in importance to the conclusion of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. While stating that it is not so explicit in wording, and quite simple in [Page 439] form, most of the newspapers regard it as tantamount in spirit and effort to a defensive alliance between the two nations.
In the opinion of the press this convention, by guaranteeing the permanent preservation of the status quo in Manchuria and Mongolia, and by insuring one party against the formation of hostile combinations by the other, removes all reason for another armed conflict between the two Powers, and thus excludes another apprehended cause for the disturbance of peace in Eastern Asia.
The newspapers and business men also foresee in the new era of intercourse between the two countries opened by the convention, a development of their economic relations, an extension in the exchange of their products, and a consequent encouragement of their industrial progress.
The consensus of opinion in the newspapers is that the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, the Russo-Japanese Convention and the Franco-Japanese Entente will henceforth furnish a triple guarantee of the preservation of peace in the Far East, the protection of the territorial integrity of China, and the safeguarding of the open door and equal opportunity.
The new convention is also regarded as another link in the bond uniting the Allies in the present war, and as a notice to Germany of their determination to cooperate to the end.
Referring to the bearing of the convention upon relations with other Powers, the Jiji says that there is no fear of collision with England, France or America, because they are all parties to agreements with Japan for the preservation of peace in the Far East, and are either allied with or friendly to Russia.
The Japanese newspapers are irritated by the charges reported to have been made by a section of the American press against the motives of Japan and Russia in concluding the present convention. They refute the assertion that it impairs American interests in the Far East, that it menaces the sovereignty of China, or that it endangers the stability of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance.
The Japanese press assures America that the agreement which has just been signed is, on the contrary, calculated to uphold the very interests and principles affecting the Far East to which that country, in common with the other Powers, stands pledged.
I have [etc.]