500.A4B/604
The Japanese Ambassador ( Saito ) to the Secretary of State
Note Verbale
I have been telegraphically instructed by Mr. Hirota to say to you, on the occasion of handing you the written notice of the intention of the Japanese Government to terminate the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, in the following sense with suitable amplifications:—
As has already been made known to the American Delegation in London, the basic policy of the Japanese Government in the present disarmament negotiations consists in the discontinuance of the ratio system and the total abolition or the utmost limitation of aggressive war vessels. From that point of view, the Japanese Government considers it inadmissible to have the Treaty continue in force.
The Japanese Government entertains the desire that the preliminary negotiations shall be conducted in the friendliest spirit possible and, to that end, wished that all Powers concerned would conjointly make the notification of treaty termination. The proposal has not been accepted by any of the Powers, and the Japanese Government has been constrained to act singly in giving notice in accordance with the provisions of Article 23 of the Treaty itself.
[Page 275]It is, however, a matter of course that the Japanese Government has no intention whatever to proceed to naval aggrandisement or to disturb international peace. It will continue in its sincere endeavors to strengthen the relationships of peace and amity among all Powers, by participating as heretofore in the friendly negotiations with the other Powers concerned in which it will strive for the conclusion with them of a new agreement, just, fair and adequate in conception and consonant with the spirit of disarmament, to replace the Washington Treaty.