711.94/25407/35
Oral Statement Handed by the Secretary of State to the Japanese Ambassador (Nomura) on November 12, 1941
Reference is made to the Japanese Ambassador’s request for any further amplification that the Secretary of State might have in mind in connection with the suggestion made by him in informal conversation on November 7 in regard to mutual exchanges of pledges between China and Japan for the establishment of real friendship and collaboration between the two countries.
It will be recalled that the suggestion under reference was prompted by the observation of the Japanese Ambassador that should the Japanese Government agree to withdraw its troops within a definite period from all areas of China the Japanese people would feel that they had nothing to show for the four years and more of heavy sacrifice that they had made and that such an agreement would be regarded as having caused Japan a loss of prestige. The Secretary, in reply to the Japanese Ambassador’s observation, commented that the present world crisis, in which Europe finds itself threatened with anarchy, affords Japan a unique opportunity to enhance its national prestige on a basis of moral force in a way that military might could never accomplish. That is, if the Chinese Government were now to say, either as a result of Japanese initiative or on its own initiative, that China desired a real friendship with Japan and would do everything it reasonably could to collaborate with Japan along peaceful and mutually beneficial lines, could not Japan [Page 727] find it possible to reciprocate in a policy of mutual friendship and conciliation with China? Would not such a policy enable Japan to make a contribution of inestimable value toward arresting the destructive forces which now menace world civilization and to assume a leadership in the world which every peaceful nation would welcome.
What is envisaged would be an implementation of the kind of constructive, liberal and peaceful world program concerning which we have been talking in our exploratory conversations. That program contemplates practical application of basic principles directed toward preservation of order under law, peace with justice, and the social and economic welfare of mankind. It contemplates peaceful collaboration among nations, mutual respect for the rights of all, no aggrandisement, and the adopting of broad-gauge economic policies which would provide liberalization of trade, afford fair access to and development of natural resources and raise living standards to the betterment of all peoples.
Full association by Japan in such a program at this critical moment in world history would give Japan an undoubted position of moral leadership and be a tribute to the far-sighted and enlightened character of its statesmanship.