793.94/7346: Telegram

The Second Secretary of Embassy in China ( Atcheson ) to the Secretary of State

55. 1. Suma of the Japanese Embassy who has just returned from Peiping and Tientsin stated to me yesterday afternoon that the wishes of the Japanese concerning North China are very simple and in accordance with the policy which Japan has long enunciated. “No one can deny”, he said, “that a special administration must be set up” there because that area is contiguous to “Manchukuo” and has not recognized “Manchukuo”. What the Japanese want, he stated, is some kind of special administration which will not “necessarily” be independent or autonomous but which will give “material recognition” to “Manchukuo” by working with “Manchukuo”. He went on to say that Chiang Kai-shek exemplified the Chinese racial characteristic of evasiveness in dealing with Japan but other leaders including Wang Ching-wei and H. H. Kung realized the necessity for this [Page 399] development in the North. They had admitted so to him but plead the difficulty, which was real, of justifying themselves in the eyes of the Chinese people if they should move at once as the Japanese desired. The problem of Japanese diplomacy is accordingly to effect a lessening of the gap between the large majority of the Chinese people and that of the intelligent Chinese officials. He added that the Japanese Foreign and War Offices and all departments of the Japanese Government are now showing a united front in the policy toward China.

2. While the Chinese Government appears to be fearful of further moves by the Japanese in connection with their recent demands in North China a certain apathy is noticeable among individual Chinese officials here. The only statement I have heard from the Foreign Office concerning the matter is that it is being handled by the local authorities in Peiping and Tientsin.

3. Paraphrase to the Ambassador at Shanghai.

Atcheson