701.9493/103: Telegram

The Counselor of Embassy in China (Peck) to the Secretary of State

99. 1. Press reports that Chinese Government’s agrément to appointment of Kawagoe49 would be announced today appear premature. According to responsible official of the Foreign Office, the Government will not act on the nomination before 3 or 4 more days. A Domei (Japanese news agency) despatch dated Nanking, April 15, purports to quote an unnamed high official of the Foreign Office as saying that “China is not in a position to object to Kawagoe’s appointment.”

2. It seems generally to be regretted in Chinese circles that Shigemitsu was not nominated Ambassador to China.50 According to one foreign press despatch, the Chinese believe that Kawagoe won the appointment by his sympathetic attitude, as Consul General at Tientsin, toward the acts of the Japanese military in North China and his appointment “is considered a further surrender (presumably of the Japanese Foreign Office) of [to?] the Japanese military authorities.”

3. Repeated to Department and Peiping, by mail to Tokyo, Tientsin.

Peck
  1. Shigeru Kawagoe’s appointment as Japanese Ambassador was confirmed May 1.
  2. Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mamoru Shigemitsu was appointed Ambassador to the Soviet Union.