500.A15A5/298: Telegram
The Chairman of the American Delegation (Davis) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 3—3:35 p.m.]
61. Supplementing my 60, December 3, 6 p.m., my impression from conversations with Matsudaira last week29 and today, is that the Japanese do not expect and possibly may prefer not really to try to reach an agreement now; that the Japanese Foreign Office feels that they cannot at present get the Navy to make the concessions necessary for an agreement and that it would be better to agree upon a modus vivendi for the 2 years before termination, such as not taking any steps to alter the situation, and also, if possible, upon a tentative basis upon which later to resume the conversations and perhaps hold a conference.
- For report upon conversations of November 30, 1934, between Mr. Davis and the Japanese delegate, see telegram No. 55, November 30, 9 p.m., from the Chairman of the American delegation, Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941, vol. i, p. 267; see also telegram No. 53, November 27, 8 p.m., from the Chairman of the American delegation, ante, p. 374.↩