893.811/1060
The Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs (Arita) to the American Ambassador in Japan (Grew)
Excellency: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Your Excellency’s note no. 1111 dated November 7, 1938, regarding the restoration of navigation and commerce of Your Excellency’s country between Shanghai and Hankow. In this note and in Your Excellency’s note no. 1076 of October 6, 1938, it was pointed out that notwithstanding the fact that the navigation of American and other third countries’ vessels and the shipping of their goods were excluded, Japanese vessels only were engaged in commercial traffic. In this relation I desire to invite Your Excellency’s attention to the fact that all Japanese ships which are at the present time allowed to navigate the Yangtze River are engaged in the transportation of military supplies and are vessels in the Government service, the navigation of Japanese vessels engaged solely in the transportation of passengers and cargo being prohibited. Further, among these vessels used for military purposes there are those which must because of military necessity maintain a definite schedule between Shanghai and the upper reaches of the river, and it is impracticable to complete a full cargo on every voyage with military supplies. Since it would be uneconomical in such instances to operate the vessel in a partially empty condition, the practice is followed when such ships have loaded the military supplies and there is still space in the hold, to utilize such available space to ship goods which are not military supplies. However, these instances are exceedingly few and are of an exceptional character. Accordingly, I request Your Excellency to understand that the Imperial Government is not at all deliberately discriminating against vessels of third countries.
Secondly, Your Excellency concludes that since there are no major hostilities on the reaches of the river below Hankow there is no warrantable [Page 796] basis whatsoever for restricting the free use of that river. I regret that I must state that the Imperial Government holds a contrary view. For example, the barrier at Kiang-Yin is now and continues to be not open to an extent beyond that necessary for military purposes, and therefore it is barely adequate for navigation by Japanese gunboats and vessels used for military purposes. Furthermore, on the upper reaches of the river above Hankow the Imperial armed forces are engaged in continuing military activities on a large scale and the necessity for the utilization of the Yangtze river is greater than ever. Accordingly, that part of the river above Shanghai is even today a vitally important line of communications for the supply of munitions and other supplies, foodstuffs, etc. In this situation navigation on this very important line of communications by foreign vessels which are not subject to the direction of the appropriate authorities of the Imperial armed forces would be a very severe obstacle to military movements, and also from the standpoint of the preservation of Japanese military secrets it is very difficult forthwith to assent to that proposition. Furthermore, the actual conditions even now are that along the banks of the Yangtze river Chinese guerrillas, appearing and disappearing, are not only frequently attacking Japanese gunboats, but also, evading the precautionary measures of the Japanese army, are setting afloat large numbers of mines. Although the Imperial armed forces are at the present time exerting every effort to deal with and dispose of these floating mines along with mines set by the Chinese armed forces, a further reasonable length of time is necessary to complete these mine sweeping operations and to lay down necessary channel markers. These mines occasionally float down to the lower reaches of the river and under the present conditions navigation by vessels at large is exceedingly dangerous. The conditions are such that, very recently, one Japanese vessel used for military purposes was sunk. In the event vessels of Your Excellency’s country should meet with such a disaster and immediately obstruct the channel, the very necessary line of communications of the Imperial armed forces would be blocked. In view of the various conditions which have been stated above the Imperial Government does not consider that the time has yet been reached at which recognition of freedom of navigation on the Yangtze river can be immediately given.
I earnestly hope that Your Excellency will appreciate the fact that the Imperial Government does not in the least intend to hinder wilfully the navigation and commerce of Your Excellency’s country on the Yangtze river, and that it is now engaged in particular efforts in order to bring about at the earliest possible moment a return of normal conditions.
I avail myself [etc.]