893.00/12615
The Counselor of Legation in China (Peck) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 2, 1934.]
Sir: I have the honor to enclose herewith a memorandum2 of remarks made by Dr. Wang Ching-wei, President of the Executive Yuan and Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs, in a conversation held with Mr. Maxwell M. Hamilton, Assistant Chief of the Far Eastern Division of the Department of State, on December 5, 1933.
Dr. Wang attributed the failure of the Chinese Government to carry out its program for the economic betterment of the Chinese [Page 477] people largely to obstructive measures of the Japanese Government. At the same time, he did not minimize the impediment offered by recalcitrant Chinese military leaders.
Dr. Wang stated that the present Government had abandoned the former idea of unifying the whole country by force, in favor of a plan to consolidate a few provinces in the neighborhood of the Capital and thence extend its influence gradually.
Dr. Wang denied the truth of the popular prediction that the initiation of diplomatic relations between the American Government and the Soviet Government would make Japan less aggressive in its foreign policies; he observed that the possibility of international isolation seemed to make Japan more aggressive toward the Soviet Union and China than it had been before.
Very respectfully yours,
- Not printed.↩