893.6363 Manchuria/120
Memorandum by the Ambassador in Japan (Grew)
In accordance with the Department’s telegraphic instruction No. 198, November 28, 7 p.m.,60 I called by appointment at 9:30 this morning on the Minister for Foreign Affairs at his official residence and handed to him the Department’s aide-mémoire (dated by the Embassy November 30) concerning the proposed Petroleum Monopoly in Manchuria. I read over various portions of the aide-mémoire and discussed them. The Minister said that he would send our communication to Hsinking because our case was with the Government of Manchukuo and not with the Government of Japan. In connection with my observation that the setting up of the Manchuria Petroleum [Page 145] Company effectually closed the door to American oil interests, Mr. Hirota remarked that Americans were free to purchase stock in the Company. I replied that, on the contrary, the shares which are nominative are issued only with the approval of the directors and they have already been issued in the proportion of 40% to the South Manchuria Railway, a quasi official Japanese organization, 20% to the Government of Manchuria and 40% to four Japanese petroleum companies. The Minister appeared not to be aware of this fact.
Mr. Hirota then said that he thought that we and the British were taking too legalistic an attitude towards the matter and that if our oil companies would confer with the authorities of Manchukuo with a view to obtaining satisfaction in practice he thought that a solution of the controversy could readily be reached. I replied that we could hardly help taking a legalistic attitude because, in our opinion, the question of the sanctity of treaties was here involved and we felt that the whole fabric of international relationships depended upon the observance of such treaties in good faith. Mr. Hirota said that the question of the applicability of the old Chinese Treaties to Manchuria was a very difficult and complicated problem and he thought it better to lay stress on the practical rather than the legalistic aspects of the situation. Japan had come to a special arrangement with Manchukuo and the Minister clearly intimated, if he did not say so openly, that only by recognition could we expect to obtain similar privileges. I observed that the assurances of the authorities of “Manchukuo” with regard to the preservation of the principle of the Open Door, as well as many assurances on the part of Japan, some of which I quoted, had been made gratuitously and unconditionally, and that when these assurances were given nothing whatever had been said with regard to the recognition of “Manchukuo” by foreign Powers. It seemed to us that the principle of the Open Door was precisely the same principle as it had been when these assurances were given. The discussion continued for one-half hour, but the Minister’s arguments were purely specious and it was obviously impossible to get anywhere. I, however, impressed the Minister more than once with the fact that the American Government and public regarded the issue as a very serious one. I also stated the emphatic denial of the American Government that the oil situation either in Manchuria or in Japan is in any way whatsoever linked with our efforts or our procedure at the London naval conversations.60a
Although it is understood that I generally ask to see the Minister at his official residence instead of at the Gaimusho, in order to avoid not so much publicity but the often inaccurate and sensational publicity which attends my visits at the Foreign Office, I did not on this occasion request the Minister to withhold publicity concerning my [Page 146] démarche. Mr. Amau, the Spokesman of the Foreign Office, subsequently informed the press that my action had not been revealed to the press because I had requested that it should not be so revealed. This was not a strictly accurate statement. The British Ambassador saw the Minister at his residence for precisely the same reason but Mr. Amau did not mention this fact to the press and he placed the responsibility for his silence entirely on me.