793.94/5760: Telegram
The Ambassador in Japan (Grew) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 17—5:57 a.m.]
14. My 11, January 14, 2 p.m. and the Department’s 2, January 14, 1 p.m. As certain inquiries had been made of the Embassy I issued yesterday morning a statement to the Japanese news agencies repeating almost verbatim the Department’s public denial of the press report from Nanking regarding an alleged arrangement whereby the United States is to supply funds and munitions to the Nanking Government. At almost the same time the Japanese War Office issued a statement that the United States is supplying automobiles and airplanes to China through merchants at Shanghai and that Germany is supplying munitions through merchants at Tientsin. This was published [Page 98] subsequently to my denial of the other report. It appears now that the two foregoing statements were telegraphed to the United States simultaneously by the news agencies and this morning I was informed by a newspaper correspondent that in the United States it was taken that my denial referred to the War Office statement, whereas in fact it clearly referred to the Nanking press report. The Japanese newspapers last night published the War Office statement but did not publish the Embassy’s denial of the Nanking press report; there is therefore no confusion of the two statements here.
Repeated to Peiping.