Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1936, General, British Commonwealth, Volume I

762.94/94: Telegram

The Chargé in the Soviet Union (Henderson) to the Secretary of State

Moscow, November 25, 1936—10 a.m.
[Received November 25—9 a.m.]

294. My 279, November 17, 6 p.m.

1. The Chinese Ambassador has told me:

(a) That Litvinov informed him categorically on November 18 that the Soviet Government had reliable information to the effect that Japan and Germany had entered into a secret agreement providing for mutual military assistance in case either country should become involved in a war with the Soviet Union.

(b) That Litvinov also advised him that the Soviet Government had been reliably informed that the Nanking Government had decided to accede to the demand of the Japanese Government that both Governments enter into an agreement jointly to combat Communism in the Far East.

(c) That he had replied that if the Soviet Government considered as reliable sources furnishing it with information of the kind contained in Litvinov’s second statement he would be inclined to doubt all information obtained from Soviet so-called reliable sources.

(d) That his Embassy was not convinced that Japan and Germany had entered into a military pact of the kind suggested by Litvinov; and,

(e) That Japan had been demanding for some time that China enter into an agreement with it providing for a joint campaign against Communism in the Far East, one of the means for the carrying out of the campaign being the establishment of a line of Chinese-Japanese military outposts following roughly the Great Wall from the sea to Turkestan but that China was determined not to comply with such a demand.

2. The French Ambassador has told me,

(a) That Litvinov informed him on November 22 that it now seemed possible that the secret agreement between Japan and Germany merely provided that if one of the two powers should become engaged in a war with a third power the other power would not assist the third power by supplying it with military equipment or raw or other materials. Litvinov himself had apparently begun to doubt the truth of his previous statements regarding the scope of the so-called military agreement; and,

(b) That the French Embassy was not convinced that Japan and Germany had entered into a pact obligating one of the parties to render military assistance to the other in case either should become involved in a war with the Soviet Union.

3. The Japanese Chargé d’Affaires has advised me,

(a) That Litvinov told him last week that in view of the apparent inclination of Japan to enter into an agreement with Germany aimed at the Soviet Union, the Central Executive Committee had failed to authorize the signing of the fisheries agreement and that authorization would not be forthcoming until the attitude of Japan towards the Soviet Union had been clarified.

(b) That the two drafts of the treaty had been prepared for signature and were to have been signed some time between November 18 and November 23; and,

(c) That he had told Litvinov that he had no information which would cause him to believe that Japan and Germany had entered into any kind of an agreement aimed at the Soviet Union.

Repeated by mail to Tokyo, Riga, Berlin and Paris.

Henderson