861.77/1099: Telegram

The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Japan (Morris)

Your 521, September 25, 7 p.m. Your cable is first indication of attitude which may possibly be adopted by Japan regarding note presented in pursuance of the Department’s telegram of August 30, 4 p.m. In view of the considerations indicated in the Embassy’s September 16, 2 p.m., the delay is perhaps not undue; but the Department is solicitous that the Japanese Government should not, by reason of our acquiescence in delay, be led to infer that this Government is either indifferent or disposed to evade the issue presented by its note. At the same time, this Government would be happy to know that its interpretation of the instructions reported to have been issued to the Japanese commanders in Siberia, and upon which appear to have been based the actions to which this Government took exception, is incorrect.

You may impress upon the Minister of Foreign Affairs the urgency of a decision on the basis of which this Government may determine the course of action to be followed by it in conformity with the actualities of the situation in Siberia. I hope very much that the attitude apparently assumed by General Oi may foreshadow a willingness on the part of Japan to lend that hearty cooperation in [Page 583] Siberia upon which this Government had originally counted with so much confidence.

You will recall that the note addressed to Japan concerned two fundamental principles concerning which this Government could not afford to have any misunderstanding; namely, first, the wide discrepancy between the written undertakings of the Japanese Government in the railway plan and the actual execution of that plan on the part of the military commanders in Siberia, as evidenced by the reports received from yourself and other American representatives; second, this Government’s conviction that the international relations of the future must depend upon a community of interest, a conviction in which it was feared the Government of Japan did not fully share.

The Department relies wholly upon your discretion … and will be grateful to receive any convincing evidence that the causes of apprehension which aroused its anxiety in the past now no longer exist.

Please immediately cable full text of General Oi’s order.

Phillips