793.94/7429: Telegram
The Chargé in Japan (Neville) to the Secretary of State
216. In conversation with the Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs today he made the following oral statement.
1. The present negotiations with Nanking are the result of conversations which the Minister for Foreign Affairs had with the Chinese Ambassador before the latter returned to China to attend the meeting of the Kuomintang. The Ambassador wished to improve relations between Japan and China, a project with which the Minister for Foreign Affairs is in hearty approval. The Ambassador then returned to Nanking and discussed the matter with the officials of the Chinese Government with the result that there were discussions between Japanese and Chinese officials in Nanking and finally Ariyoshi began his conversations with Chiang Kai-shek. The basis of the discussions is three sided. First, the suppression of anti-Japanese propaganda which stirs up the populace to no good purpose; second, the acceptance of the fact of “Manchukuo” which may not necessarily mean diplomatic relations; and finally, means of controlling Communist or Red propaganda which is becoming a serious question both in China and in Manchuria. These Sino-Japanese discussions were interfered with by the attempted assassination of Wang Ching-wei, the murder of a Japanese sailor and the wrecking of a Japanese shop in Shanghai all of which the Japanese have reason to believe are connected. Their reasons are that they know that the Comintern meeting in Moscow, to whose activities both the Japanese and American Governments took exception, considered the question of the Red armies in China and decided to support in every way possible the anti-Japanese movements in China in addition to furthering communistic movements there because they consider the Japanese the greatest menace to Red action in the Far East. However, the Japanese were determined to treat the Shanghai affairs as purely local matters and the conversations continued. They were again disturbed by the Chinese announcement of the nationalization of silver.
This had a most unfortunate effect because it put the North China leaders in a panic and some of them went to the Japanese military for advice. It put new life into the autonomy movement which has long existed in a dormant condition.
The North China autonomy movement is a matter with which the Japanese Government does not wish to be concerned but it has placed [Page 441] the Japanese in an embarrassing position because the Chinese leaders in the North have represented to Nanking that the Japanese are urging them to declare autonomy while at the same time these same leaders assure the Japanese that they would declare autonomy over night if it were not for the negotiations that the Japanese are carrying on at Nanking with Chiang Kai-shek which give added strength to the objection of the Central Government. Still the Japanese Government will continue to negotiate with Chiang and will not allow local issues to obscure their object which is to come to a settlement with the Chinese Government along the lines indicated above. At the same time he remarked parenthetically the Japanese feel that any domestic settlement which Chiang may come to in the matter of North China autonomy must take account of (1) the general sentiment in that region which is decidedly opposed to direct Nanking Government, (2) the propinquity of “Manchukuo” and its border problems, (3) the large Japanese interests in the North China area although the latter is a contributing rather than a deciding factor in the situation. He believed that a China centrally governed like Japan or France was an impossibility. The Vice Minister said that he felt hopeful rather than discouraged because he felt that the Chinese now realize the need for an understanding with Japan, an attitude they have not taken hitherto. He said that at no time in the recent discussion has the Japanese Government contemplated the use of armed force although they might be compelled to do so if the Chinese troops moved north. The wild speeches attributed to military officers were largely fictitious he said although he would have to admit that there are some officers with very little discretion. More than that, there is a large element of troublesome Japanese who stir up issues that have no legitimate place in the purposes of the Japanese Government. He said that Chiang was the strongest man in China and that they would continue to work with him. Still he has many enemies and is frequently driven to rather questionable expedients like every man in high political office except that conditions in China are worse than in other countries.
2. The foregoing is the first statement I have been able to obtain from a Japanese official. The Vice Minister had obviously thought the matter over carefully and gave every evidence of speaking frankly. The Department will note that there is no sign of easing the Japanese demands but on the other hand the general attitude is not as uncompromising and threatening as was indicated by the reported statements of Japanese Army officers in China.
Repeated to Peiping.
- Telegram in two sections.↩