793.94/7412: Telegram
The Chargé in Japan (Neville) to the Secretary of State
[Received 1:05 a.m.]
213. Department’s 178, November 20, 4 p.m. So far as the Embassy has been able to learn no such statement has been issued by the Foreign Office nor have there been official pronouncements of a like nature. It has been the practice of the Foreign Office spokesman to respect foreign correspondents and answer or parry their questions. Yesterday he seems to have been in a communicative mood and told the assembled newspapermen on his own responsibility that the new regime in North China would probably resemble the Canton government in being a sort of autonomous government but that of course the whole matter was a domestic Chinese question. The fact of Japanese “assistance” was not denied.
Differing versions of this interview have appeared in the local press and were cabled to the United States. None of the correspondents recall having cabled the wording quoted by the Department but it is possible that the expression crept in during the course of distribution.