611.51G9/22
The First Secretary of the American Embassy in
Japan (Crocker) to the Acting Director of
the American Bureau of the Japanese Ministry for Foreign Affairs
(Yuki)
Tokyo, December 30, 1940.
My Dear Mr. Yuki: At Mr. Terazaki’s request, I am
transmitting to you an oral statement, a copy of which I read to him this
morning, relating to the question of interference with Red Cross supplies in
Indochina.
Will you please regard this statement as from the American Ambassador to His
Excellency, the Minister for Foreign Affairs?
Sincerely yours,
[Enclosure]
Oral Statement by the American Ambassador
(Grew) to the Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs
(Matsuoka)
Referring to the American Ambassador’s note to His Excellency the
Imperial Minister for Foreign Affairs, no. 1714 dated December 17, 1940,
relating to the interference by the Indochinese authorities, chiefly as
a result of Japanese pressure brought upon those authorities, with the
shipments of American owned goods and merchandise, the American
Ambassador is now instructed to express to His Excellency the Minister
for Foreign Affairs the opinion that it would not be consistent with
humanitarian considerations to interfere with the movement of supplies
of the Red Cross at present in Indochina, in addition to being
unwarranted on other grounds. At least a part of the Red Cross supplies
under reference, incidentally, was made possible by the contributions of
American citizens.
