740.0011 Pacific War/134: Telegram
The Ambassador in Japan (Grew) to the Secretary of State
[Received 4:55 p.m.]
317. In the course of my conversation today with the Foreign Minister he went out of his way to accuse the British Government of taking measures in the Far East which were a direct incitement to Japan and which rendered very difficult an improvement in the situation. He referred in this connection to the reported mining of Singapore and the sending of Australian troops to the Malaya-Thailand border.
[Page 309]I said that it seemed to me extraordinary that the Japanese should interpret and characterize obviously defensive measures as measures of offense. As I had said to the Minister at the American-Japan Society luncheon,21 we must inevitably be guided by “facts and actions” and that certainly the facts and actions relating to Japan’s southward advance were concrete causes for serious anxiety not only on the part of Great Britain but of ourselves. Having occupied in succession Waichow, Hainan, the Spratly Islands, and other areas, the Japanese military were now pouring troops into Indo-China and, according to our informer, had occupied the airport in Saigon, quite apart from naval activities in those regions, and that these steps, taken in conjunction with the public utterances of many Japanese statesmen, generals and admirals concerning Japanese intentions to the southward, had created a situation which could hardly be regarded with equanimity either by the United States or Great Britain since they threatened not only our interests but our possessions.
Mr. Matsuoka replied that Japan was not the only country where inflammatory utterances occurred and in this connection he mentioned the names of certain Americans. He denied the truth of the report that the airfield at Saigon had been occupied, merely murmuring something about Tongking, and he said that the Japanese troops in Indo-China were there in strict accordance with the terms of the official agreement with the Vichy Government. I said that according to our own information these troops were very much in excess of the number originally stipulated, but the Minister replied that this was merely a question of replacement.
The conversation then turned into other channels.
Sent to the Department. Repeated to Hong Kong. Hong Kong please repeat to Bangkok and Hanoi.