793.94/3339b: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Japan (Forbes)
275. The New York Herald-Tribune of December 21 carried an editorial under the caption “The Chinchow Ultimatum”.
This editorial stated, in part, that
“Secretary of State Stimson’s reminder to the Japanese Foreign Office through Ambassador Cameron Forbes that a Japanese advance on Chinchow would have an unfavorable effect upon world opinion … has to be construed with the fact in mind that Japan signed the League Resolution because Ambassador Dawes got from Dr. Alfred Sze and passed along to the Japanese an assurance that the Chinese garrison would withdraw from the Chinchow area, …”1
The editorial stated further:
“It was Mr. Dawes who persuaded Mr. Matsudaira to be content with reading a reservation of the Japanese right to action into the minutes in exchange for an assurance from Nanking, conveyed by Dr. Sze through Mr. Dawes, that the Chinese would withdraw.”
“The accredited agent of the State Department was, in other words, a responsible party to this arrangement …1 For this reason, if for no other, the Stimson message cannot be interpreted as foreshadowing an American protest, but as informal friendly advice having no bearing on policy.”
Insofar as these statements purport to be statements of fact, they are false. As you know, no such assurances were given to Dawes or conveyed by him and no such arrangement was made.
I assume that you clearly understand both my attitude and policy with regard to the Chinchow matter and that you have made them clear to the Japanese authorities. If the above quoted statements or similar statements are in any connection cited to you, you should declare them false.
Repeat to Peiping for relay to Nanking.