793.94/6586: Telegram

The Ambassador in Japan (Grew) to the Secretary of State

71. 1. Fleisher24 informs me that he has telegraphed to the New York Herald Tribune the full text of his translation of the “unofficial” statement released last night by the spokesman of the Foreign Office25 regarding the Japanese attitude toward the rendering of assistance to China by other countries. This translation has been checked with the Japanese text by the Embassy and found to be substantially correct. An official translation into English is to be issued by the Foreign Office tonight or tomorrow. If the official translation differs in any important particulars from the translation telegraphed to the Herald Tribune, I shall inform the Department by telegraph.

2. Although the Foreign Office spokesman at first labelled the statement as “unofficial”, he told the correspondent of the Associated Press that it had received the approval of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. This morning he told the newspaper correspondents that the statement “could be considered as official” and that it would be sent to the Japanese diplomatic missions abroad for transmission to the various governments.

3. This morning the Foreign Office spokesman further stated that if the League of Nations should take any concerted action of political significance in China, such action would be regarded as objectionable by Japan. He also stated that Japan would use force if necessary to [Page 113] uphold its policy. In reply to a question he stated that the policy was not intended to conflict with any existing treaties including the Nine-Power Treaty.26

4. While local opinion on the subject has not yet crystallized, some observers believe that this constitutes the most important pronouncement of Japanese policy toward China since the presentation of the 21 demands.27

Repeated to Peiping.

Grew
  1. Wilfrid Fleisher, managing editor of the Japan Advertiser, and correspondent in Japan of the New York Herald Tribune.
  2. For text of the English translation unofficially issued by the Foreign Office, see Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941, vol. i, p. 224.
  3. Signed at Washington February 6, 1922, Foreign Relations, 1922, vol. i, p. 276.
  4. See ibid., 1915, pp. 79 ff.