Office of the Historian

793.94/7988: Telegram

The Ambassador in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State

Peiping, June 20, 1936—3 p.m.
[Received 4:15 p.m.]

313. Embassy’s 301, June 12, 3 p.m.

1.
Presumably important meetings of Japanese officials began June 18 at Tientsin. They are understood to include Lieutenant General Tashiro, Major Generals Kawabe and Matsumuro, and officers of the staff of the North China Garrison, as well as resident officers of Taiyuan, Kweihwa, and Tsinanfu and the Vice Chief and a section chief of the Kwantung army staff. The Chief of the Kwantung [Page 214] army staff is reputedly to arrive at Tientsin within a day or two. (Kuwashima of the Foreign Office allegedly informed the Chinese press at Peiping June 14 that “as the War Ministry knows the (North China) situation better than the other Ministry all problems in the area are being handled by the War Office.”)
2.
Presumably these meetings are to decide policy with regard to Sung Che Yuan’s regime. There are persistent reports that General Sung’s attitude toward the Japanese has stiffened since the conferences of the latter part of May with his subordinates (reference Embassy’s telegram 275, June 2, 4 p.m.33 and 282, June 4, 3 p.m.) when his military subordinates (1) persuaded him to reverse his decision to declare independence in accordance with Japanese desires and (2) insisted that Hsiao Chen Ying should not resign the mayorship of Tientsin under Japanese pressure.
3.
An indication of this new attitude is Sung’s appointment of General Chang Tzu Chung, his senior divisional commander and prievously Chairman of Chahar, to succeed Hsiao as Mayor of Tientsin. Crang’s appointment was urged by Sung’s military subordinates and was definitely not desired by the Japanese military. Sung was allegedly lead to believe that if he appointed the Japanese favorite, Chi Hsieh Yuan (reference paragraph 9 Embassy’s 301, June 12, 3 p.m.), his regime would soon come to an end as Chi would do Japanese bidding more readily than Hsiao Chen Ying had done which would mean that Tientsin, the most important port of Sung’s area, would be lost to him.
4.
The Japanese military have reputedly yielded on the question of Chang’s appointment (Chang assumed office June 18) because (1) Chang’s powers as mayor are to be less than were Hsiao[‘s], (2) Chang is simpler minded than Hsiao and can be handled easily, and (3) the Japanese military are apprehensive that some of Sung’s subordinates might otherwise cause trouble which the Japanese wish to avoid.
5.
The question of what the Japanese military may decide at these meetings and what will be the form of their subsequent negotiations with Sung, who is now in Tientsin, cannot be answered at present.
6.
Rumors of possible cooperation of Han Fu Chu with Sung, either for or against the Japanese, are prevalent. Kuwashima of the dissolution [Foreign Office?] visited Han June 18 and the press reports that Sung will meet Han shortly at Sung’s birthplace in Shantung.
7.
Although it is evident that Sung is in communication with the Southwest, his intentions in that regard are not known.

By mail to Tokyo.

Johnson
  1. Not printed.↩