711.9411/4
Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Phillips)
The Chinese Minister called to ask me whether I could give him any information with regard to the reports which were originating in the Japanese press to the effect that Japan had proposed to the United States a treaty of non-aggression; that this Government had sent a counter proposal with respect to a joint non-aggression pact, including the United States, China, Russia and Japan; the Minister asked how much truth there was in this report.
I said that I knew of no direct proposal from the Japanese along the lines indicated, that, of course, something of this sort had appeared from time to time in the Japanese press and was in the nature, perhaps, of a “ballon d’essai;” further the United States had made no such proposal of a joint non-aggression pact.
The Minister pressed a little further as to how such a joint pact would be regarded here, to which I replied that I could not speak for the President or the Secretary, but that, speaking personally I thought that if China, Japan and Russia agreed upon some such pact it would not be difficult for us to join; I asked Mr. Sze how he felt about it and whether he saw any prospect of a joint action along these lines. The Minister said that he had hoped the President would take the initiative in an effort to bring about some sort of mutual and joint [Page 649] guarantee of non-aggression, but he did not indicate that the Chinese Government was prepared in any way to discuss the matter at the present time.