500.A15 a 1/463: Telegram
The Ambassador in Japan (MacVeagh) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 21—10:20 a.m.]
102. A member of my staff who had an informal talk with the Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs today took the occasion to refer to the reported agreement on July 16th at Geneva by the Japanese delegation with the last British proposal. The Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs stated that Admiral Kobayashi had expressed the opinion to Admiral Field that the Japanese Government would accept these proposals. [Page 124] Mr. Debuchi said that the Japanese Government had not however given its assent and that the proposals were still subject to tripartite discussion. He intimated that the Japanese Government still hoped to bring the maximum combined cruiser-destroyer tonnage down to 450,000 tons and stated that the British 6-inch gun proposal had not received the approval of the naval experts here. He said that the Japanese Government also realized that the obsolete cruiser tonnage clause presented difficulties. As regards submarine tonnage, he said that the Japanese had hoped for 70,000 tons. The Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs reiterated, however, that no decision had been reached by the Japanese Government and that they especially wished our Government to understand, as he having [had] made and felt sure Saito had made plain, that they have no intention of placing us in a difficult position by reaching a preliminary accord with the British. He said that this was a three-power Conference and would remain so.