393.1163M56/249
The American Ambassador in Japan ( Grew ) to the Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs ( Matsuoka )
My Dear Mr. Minister: Having understood in our conversation yesterday that you were not familiar with the continued cases of bombing of American property in China by Imperial Japanese air forces, I am taking the liberty of sending you, for your personal information, a copy of my official note of today29a regarding a particularly flagrant case involving the ninth occasion on which the same American property has been bombed by Japanese planes. Your Excellency will see from [Page 697] the text of my note that the eight previous instances were duly brought to the attention of the Imperial Japanese Government, and I feel sure that you will readily appreciate the deplorable effect upon Japanese-American relations which would inevitably ensue were a case of this nature to come to the attention of the American public.
In connection with the general subject of the bombing of American property in China, you may be interested in the data given below, taken from our records.
Since the beginning of the hostilities in China there have been brought to our attention approximately 280 instances of the bombing of property, belonging to American nationals, by the Imperial Japanese air forces. As an indication of the fact that these attacks have not abated recently, I may cite the fact that approximately 23 separate cases of bombing of American property in China have come to our attention during the past three months, and that during the time that the present Government has been in office, alone, twelve separate attacks have occurred, involving in some cases very serious destruction to American property. The location of these properties, moreover, had been brought to the attention of the appropriate Japanese authorities, without the responsibility on the part of our Government, for the express purpose of avoiding damage to the American property concerned.
Believe me [etc.]
- Supra.↩