Office of the Historian

693.94244/41: Telegram

The Ambassador in Japan (Grew) to the Secretary of State

Tokyo, May 30, 1936—1 p.m.
[Received May 30—7:59 a.m.]

117. 1. The British Ambassador this morning informed me that in late April Suma, the Japanese Consul General at Nanking, informed the Commercial Counsellor of the British Embassy in China that the smuggling situation was a political and not an economic issue; that the Japanese Government would do nothing to improve the situation pending Chinese acceptance of Japanese views; that the smuggling was a perfectly reasonable method of bringing pressure to bear on China for revision of the tariff; that the February 26 incident had consolidated and strengthened the determination of the Japanese Army to proceed with a firm hand in China; that the situation could not be stabilized until the five northern provinces of China had become [Page 182] completely independent of Nanking; and that the efforts of China to strengthen armaments constituted an absurd and dangerous move because any “incident” could lead to open conflict.

2. Clive brought this conversation to Arita’s attention who denied Suma’s statement of the Japanese Government’s attitude toward the smuggling issue and reiterated that there was no political motive behind the smuggling. Clive believes that Suma’s recall to Japan at the present moment may be a result of the above-reported conversation.

3. Domei reports this morning that on landing yesterday at Kobe, in an interview with newspapermen, Suma stated that he had told Chiang Kai Shek that “China must now choose between mutual interdependence with Japan or war with Japan”. Associated Press informs the Embassy that this phrase will not appear in the English translation to be distributed by Domei but that it did appear in the original Japanese version of the interview. The Asaki version of the interview does not contain the threat of war but the Nichi Nichi version states that Suma said that “the future course of the Chiang Government must be either to rely upon Japan or to open hostilities against Japan”.

Repeated to Peiping.

Grew