893.6363 Manchuria/120
The American Embassy in Japan to the Japanese Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Aide-mémoire
The American Government is impelled again to bring to the attention of the Japanese Government the subject of the proposed petroleum monopoly in Manchuria and in connection therewith to refer to the American Ambassador’s memoranda to the Foreign Office under dates July 7 and August 31, 1934, and to the replies of the Japanese Government as conveyed to the American Ambassador by memoranda of the Foreign Office under dates August 2 and November 5, 1934.
With particular reference to the Foreign Office memorandum of November 5 the American Government finds unconvincing the statement as contained therein that the proposed control of the oil industry in Manchuria is not within the knowledge or concern of the Japanese Government. The American Government must of necessity assume that a project of such major importance to all concerned and one with regard to which Japanese interests including a quasi-official organization apparently are taking so active and so prominent a part can not escape either the knowledge or the concern of the Japanese Government. Likewise for obvious reasons the American Government can not accept the implied disclaimer of responsibility on the part of Japan in relation to the industrial policy in Manchuria of which this prohibition [project?] is a manifestation.
The American Government does not wish nor does it believe that the Japanese Government would wish to enter into controversy over the details of the project under discussion. The American Government feels however that it must call to the attention of the Japanese Government for that Government’s most careful consideration certain facts and conclusions to which the American Government attachés great importance namely that there is proposed the setting up in Manchuria of a control of the petroleum industry which by whatsoever means attained and whatever called would in fact constitute a monopoly of the sale and distribution of oil in that area; that the creation of such a monopoly would impinge upon treaty rights which [Page 144] rights the authorities in Manchuria have affirmed to the world they would respect and maintain, an affirmation which the Japanese Government accepted and adopted in the protocol into which it entered with those authorities; that an oil monopoly and in fact any monopoly would in addition constitute a violation of Article III of the Nine Power Treaty to which both Japan and the United States are co-signatories. The creation of such a monopoly would adversely affect legitimate American interests long established in that region. Perseverance in this project by its promoters and indifference by the Japanese Government to that development and its consequences would tend to place at naught the emphatic and unconditional assurances repeatedly made by the Japanese Government of its devotion to the maintenance in Manchuria of the principle of the open door.
In such premises the American Government assumes and expects that the Japanese Government will wish by definite action to give clear evidence of its intention to be guided by its treaty commitments and the assurances in other forms which it has on many occasions given to the American Government and to other Governments and to the world at large.
The American Government is confident that, with further consideration of this situation and its implications, the Japanese Government will realize that it has a definite responsibility in relation to this matter and will take steps which, in view of the relationship between itself and the authorities in Manchuria, are believed to be possible and appropriate toward dissuading the promoters of the monopoly project from perseverance in that project.