500.A15A4/1748: Telegram
The Acting Chairman of the American Delegation (Gibson) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 9—8:15 a.m.]
559. My 547, March 1, 7 p.m. Following is a communication from the Japanese delegation dated March 6 to the President of the Disarmament Conference now circulated by the League Secretariat:
“The Imperial Government of Japan as an inevitable consequence of the incompatibility existing between their own point of view and that of the majority of the League of Nations respecting the Sino-Japanese affair, regret to have been obliged to withdraw their representatives from the League Assembly. As their determination, however, remains unshaken to contribute toward the establishment of permanent universal peace, they hereby declare their intention to continue their participation in the General Disarmament Conference. They must nevertheless acquaint the Conference with the fact that, as they consider it indispensable to effect various important modifications in the national defense of the Empire, in view of the new situation entailed by the changed conditions in the Far East, all the relevant circumstances should, they are thoroughly convinced, be taken into due account in the future discussion of disarmament questions”.