711.94/1552
Memorandum by the Ambassador in Japan (Grew)
When Mr. Arita came to the Embassy this evening I asked whether he desired our conversation to be formal or informal. He replied, “Entirely [Page 63] informal.” He then said he wished to apologize for having failed to carry out his intention expressed to me when he took office last January* to continue the conversations begun with me by his predecessor. After studying the situation he had come to the conclusion that because of the wide discrepancy in the views of our two countries in matters of principle a continuance of the conversations looking toward the negotiation of a new commercial treaty at this juncture would be futile. (The Foreign Minister had said the same thing to the British Ambassador a few days ago, but had used the expression “owing to the rigidity of the American position”.)
I agreed with Mr. Arita that important discrepancies in questions of principle existed in the views of our two Governments, but I added that more acute phases of the difficulties between the United States and Japan centered in the continued and recently aggravated interference on the part of the Japanese armed forces with American rights and interests in China which I felt should be obviated before the problems involving questions of principle could successfully be solved. At this point I showed to the Minister and read the headings of a statement of more than twenty typewritten pages covering the instances of current interference with American business, trade, and commerce through monopolistic measures and exchange control, and import and export control restrictions in China. (As this was an informal conversation I did not hand this document to the Minister but shall consider the advisability of sending it to him subsequently in support of my oral statement.) I said that I had become greatly discouraged by this recrudescence of bombings and other acute cases of interference with American rights and by the absence of visible effort to implement the assurances continually given us with regard to the intention of the Japanese Government to ensure in practice the principle of equal opportunity and respect for American commercial arid other interests in China. The Minister replied that Mr. Tani had informed him of my recent representations concerning the bombings and the difficulties at the barriers in Tientsin,46 and that he was doing his best to ameliorate these conditions. He hoped that the barriers in Tientsin would soon be raised. At least some of our complaints regarding monopolistic measures and exchange control and import and export restrictions would be solved when the hostilities in China were terminated. The Minister referred to his efforts to settle claims for damages in China which, even though the results might not be entirely satisfactory to the claimants, nevertheless represented [Page 64] an effort made in good faith to meet these claims.47 I acknowledged these efforts but added that thus far they had barely touched the fringe of the whole problem.
The Minister then spoke of the rumors of my return to the United States on leave of absence. I replied that the question of leave of absence arose annually and that my plans for this year were not yet settled but that frankly, after waiting in vain for the last several months for some evidence of implementation of the assurances given me with regard to an improvement in the situation of American rights and interests in China and seeing only a recrudescence and intensification of interference with those rights and interests, I was becoming doubtful of my ability to accomplish constructive work here and felt that personal contact with my Government at this time might be more helpful than remaining in Tokyo. I said that I had already made the position and attitude of my Government perfectly clear to the Japanese Government and that we were now waiting patiently but apparently futilely for results. The Minister said that he hoped that I would not leave Japan at this juncture because the Japanese public, which at present is very much disturbed at the worsening of Japanese-American relations, would interpret my departure as a partial rupture of relations and that the public reaction might be “very serious”. I replied that I would consider the matter in the light of the Minister’s views and would let him know of my decision shortly. If I should decide to abandon my leave of absence I hoped that the decision would prove to be justified through a positive improvement in the situation of American interests in China.
The Minister then spoke of the forthcoming visit to Japan of the High Commissioner to the Philippines, Mr. Sayre, who, with Mrs. Sayre, is to visit us at the Embassy on April 30 for several days. He alluded to the proposed immigration bill and referred to certain alleged difficulties between the High Commissioner and the Japanese Consul General in Manila. I said that these matters could be discussed when Mr. Sayre arrives and in the meantime I read to him the immigration figures given in a telegram from the Department dated April 22.48
Mention was made of Admiral Taussig’s48a recently reported remarks before a committee of the Senate and their effect on Japanese public opinion. I said that the one-sidedness of publicity in Japan was well illustrated by the importance attached by the Japanese press to the observations of an American officer, who had announced that he was speaking for himself alone and not on behalf of the Government, [Page 65] while not one word appeared in the Japanese press about the bombings and other serious incidents in derogation of American rights and interests continually occurring in China. I referred in this connection to past public utterances of Japanese officials, notably a speech by General Araki, then Minister of War, quoted in the press several years ago (and not subsequently withdrawn or denied in spite of my official protest) which included the phrase: “The United States and Soviet Russia are like ravening wolves and castaway cats, baring their teeth and claws for attack.” The Minister made no comment.
There ensued a desultory discussion of the war in Europe. In spite of the acrid nature of some of the comments advanced in the conversation, which lasted approximately one hour, it was conducted in friendly vein and tone. I ended on the note that statesmanship must look to the long future rather than to the immediate present and that the reasons for Japanese-American friendship are fundamental and must win out in the long run simply because, in the long run, Japan cannot get along without the friendship of the United States.
- Reference Embassy’s telegram No. 28, January 18, 1940. [Footnote on original memorandum; telegram under reference not printed.]↩
- See pro memoria of April 23, 1940, vol. i, p. 678, and Japanese reply of May 10, 1940, ibid., p. 680.↩
- See report of May 10, 1940, from the Consul at Shanghai, vol. i, p. 682.↩
- Not printed.↩
- Rear Admiral Joseph K. Taussig, Commandant of the 5th Naval District and Naval Operating Base at Norfolk, Va.↩