793.94/2924: Telegram
The Minister in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 27—1:30 p.m.]
The following supplements my November 26, 5 p.m., reporting the statement made by Koo: Regarding Chinchow, Koo said that information received by the Chinese Government led the Government to believe that preparations for an attack were being carried on by the Japanese but that the attack would be deferred until the conclusion of the Council meeting in order that Japan might be able to induce the delegates to pass a mild resolution of the sort proposed by the Italians. He said that the Chinese Government could not understand how General Dawes and the Council delegates could be misled regarding the futility of a general assurance from Japan that troops would be withdrawn, previous assurances of the sort accepted in the resolutions of September 30 and October 24 having been flagrantly violated. To the Chinese Government the issue seemed quite plain. The action of Japan in sending troops to occupy regions in Manchuria was either right or wrong. If the League believed it to have been wrong, a clear-cut denunciation should issue from the Council; if right, the Council should say so, in which case China would know where she stood. Koo said Chinese popular feeling now demanded affirmative action for recovery of occupied regions either in the form of time limit set by the Council for evacuation or as alternative declaration of war by the Chinese Government. Koo seemed very despondent.