Office of the Historian

793.94/7023: Telegram

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

Tokyo, June 11, 1935—5 p.m.
[Received June 11—9:25 a.m.]

128. Crisis in North China. The assistant liaison officer in the office of the Ministry of War called at his own request on our Military Attaché at noon today to explain the situation in North China. He has been friendly, communicative and accurate in the past but today for the first time he showed clearly that he had been directed to deliver a special message substantially as follows:

(1)
Japanese Army officers in China and the military authorities in Tokyo are satisfied with the reply received from General Ho Yingchin although they had wished the reply to come direct from Chiang Kai-shek.
(2)
Compliance with the general Army demands will remove from North China the troops, anti-Japanese organizations and individuals considered objectionable and they will be replaced with pro-Japanese officials and acceptable Nationalist troops for the preservation of order.
(3)
Being suspicious however of Chinese sincerity in fulfilling the promises made, the Japanese Army is taking the precautionary measures of sending a small contingent of troops from the Tientsin garrison to Peiping and other troops from the Kwantung Army to Kupehkow and Shanhaikwan and of stationing an air unit at Chinchow. General staff headquarters at Tokyo however have forbidden the movement of the troops from the Kwantung Army south of the Great Wall without imperial sanction in order to prevent premature action by headstrong local commanders. It appears that this precaution was taken at the request of the Premier who is said to have been worried over the situation.
(4)
Movement of troops out of Hopei Province has begun and barring accidents should be completed by the end of June but the Japanese Army has set no time limit for their evacuation.
(5)
At first the Japanese North China garrison, it is believed, wished to establish a buffer state in North China or to extend the demilitarized zone to include Peiping and Tientsin but such ideas have been abandoned because of the disapproval of the military authorities in Tokyo. The Tokyo military authorities desire only a peaceful North China with no political change.

The above information was given in confidence for official use only and not for publication either in the United States or in Japan.

Repeated to Peiping.

Grew