711.94/927
The Ambassador in Japan (Grew) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 24.]
Sir: According to Tokyo press reports of February 24 and 25, 1934, at a meeting of the Budget Committee of the House of Peers on February 23, Baron Toshiatsu Sakamoto spoke of the desirability of settling in a peaceful manner all questions pending between Japan and the United States and asked for a statement of the Government’s views on this matter. In reply, after discussing the importance of creating a mutual understanding between the two countries with regard to their respective positions and, after disavowing any intention on Japan’s part of assuming an attitude of antagonism toward the United States, Mr. Hirota, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, stated that for the purpose of eliminating any thought of a future American-Japanese war it was imperative that Japan and the United States start friendly diplomatic discussions for the improvement of relations, that as a first step Japan and the Japanese should understand conditions and public opinion in the United States, and that he had therefore ordered the immediate departure from the Netherlands to the United States of the new Ambassador, Mr. Saito, who would exchange views with President Roosevelt and political leaders in Washington, afterwards come to Japan for conferences with military and other authorities, and subsequently return to the United States with instructions relative to Japan’s new policies toward the United States.
Baron Sakamoto, in emphasizing again the importance of avoiding an armed conflict between Japan and the United States, said that Mr. Castle, former Ambassador to Japan, had stated publicly that the United States would not hesitate to recognize the dominant position of the Japanese Navy in the Western Pacific. He (Sakamoto) was of the opinion that, in return, Japan should recognize the superiority of the United States Navy in the Eastern Pacific or create a neutral zone in the Pacific, thereby avoiding a clash of arms between the two countries. In response to Baron Sakamoto’s interpellation, Mr. Hirota is reported by the Tokyo Asahi of February 24, 1934, to have made the following statement:
“It seems that a partition of the Pacific by the conclusion of some agreement or a guarantee of the independence of the Philippines are problems being considered by both countries. If the United States would be willing to conclude an agreement of this sort, I do not believe that the problem would present much difficulty. I feel certain that Ambassador Saito, after he has been a while in Washington, will take [Page 639] up this matter. I think it best at present to wait until we have received a report from him and then we can adopt the necessary measures.”
[Here follows summary of newspaper editorials.]
Respectfully yours,