893.515/483
Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Phillips)
The Japanese Ambassador, during his call this afternoon, asked me whether we had received any further reply from the British Government with respect to their plan for a joint loan or credit to China. I replied that there had been no further communication, but that I was [Page 565] rather glad to know, from one or two different sources, that Mr. Hirota on his part seemed to favor the idea. Mr. Saito expressed some doubts as to whether Mr. Hirota did, in fact, favor such a plan since there was nothing very definite as yet before the Japanese Government for its approval. The Ambassador referred to the memorandum of the conversation with the British Government which I had handed to him on March 4th, in which reference was made to the fact that the British Government had been approached on the subject of a loan or credit from Japanese and Chinese sources. This, he said, was incorrect inasmuch as the Japanese had not made any approach to the British Government on this subject. On the contrary, the British Government had made the first approach to Japan.