765.84/4409
Memorandum by Mr. Eugene H. Dooman, of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs, of a Conversation With the Counselor of the Japanese Embassy (Yoshizawa)
Mr. Yoshizawa read aloud in translation a telegram which, he said, had been received this morning by the Japanese Embassy from the Foreign Office at Tokyo. The telegram read substantially as follows:
The Italian Ambassador called on the Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs and read to him the recent Italian decree extending Italian sovereignty over Ethiopia. The Italian Ambassador then observed that he assumed that the Japanese Government recognized the sovereignty of Italy over Ethiopia. The Vice Minister replied that the matter would be taken under advisement by the Japanese Government.
The Embassy is directed to inquire as soon as practicable at the Department of State in regard to the attitude in the premises of the American Government, and to expedite its reply.
Mr. Yoshizawa asked Mr. Dooman whom he could call upon to make the inquiry which the Embassy had been directed by the Japanese Government to make. Mr. Dooman replied that, so far as he knew, no decision in the matter had been taken by the American Government, but that he was not at all conversant with the details. He said to Mr. Yoshizawa that he would endeavor to ascertain the officer in the Department upon whom Mr. Yoshizawa could most appropriately call in connection with the situation in Ethiopia. Mr. Yoshizawa called attention to the urgency of the matter and expressed the hope that Mr. Dooman would communicate with him in sufficient time for Mr. Yoshizawa to call at the Department again during the course of the day. Mr. Dooman stated that he would endeavor to reply as soon as possible.
As Mr. Yoshizawa rose to leave, he said with a smile that he assumed that “the Stimson Doctrine of non-recognition93 is still in effect”, to which Mr. Dooman replied that he supposed that the Ethiopia situation is being followed with interest by the Japanese.
- See telegram No. 7, January 7, 1932, noon, to the Ambassador in Japan, Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941, vol. i, p. 76.↩