693.94244/64: Telegram
The Ambassador in Japan (Grew) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 8—11:25 a.m.]
123. Embassy’s 119, June 3, 6 p.m. In conversation today the British Ambassador stated that his Government viewed the Chinese situation seriously. He said that in his judgment there was nothing at present to hope from the Japanese in the way of cooperation to improve things in China; that the smuggling would go on at least for the time being; that it was entirely possible that the Japanese military envisaged a demoralized customs service in China followed by a collapse of all government there due to lack of revenue; that he had tried to impress upon the Japanese that they could not expect the rest of the world to accept the naive statement that Japan had nothing to do with the smuggling in the North; that the British Government did not accept it, a fact which he had asked Leith-Ross to reiterate in any conversations he may have with Japanese officials here; that he had repeated to Arita that the British Government was acting throughout solely to protect British interests on its own initiative without collusion with other governments.
The Ambassador said that the Japanese had insisted on Leith-Ross visiting Japan and that the invitation had come not from financial interests but from the Foreign Office and military officers in China and that Leith-Ross had been met by an emissary of the War Department on arrival. He was emphatic that Leith-Ross had not intended to come to Japan as he had no business to transact here and had come only because he had been so repeatedly urged that the British Government had finally instructed him to come because failure to do so would look like an international slight. The Ambassador added that he was not sure what the Japanese had in mind in asking him but they had been urging the visit since last winter but Leith-Ross had been delayed on account of the February disturbance, the new Government and the session of the Diet.