Office of the Historian

765.94/33: Telegram

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

Tokyo, December 1, 1936—4 p.m.
[Received December 1—9:15 a.m.]

247. Embassy’s 245, November 30, 2 p.m.

1.
The Italian Ambassador this morning told me that the emphasis given by the press to the recent Italian-Japanese negotiations was due to the fact that they followed so closely the conclusion of the German-Japanese agreement and that this emphasis was out of proportion to the facts. He said that for at least a year Italy had desired to reopen her Consulate General in Mukden, closed since the great war, because most of the other great powers had such Consulates while Italy possesses a Consulate only in Harbin and that this arrangement had finally been made by the Japanese Government acting as intermediary with Manchukuo. Japan at the same time had sent a Consul to Abyssinia after a similar arrangement with the Italian Government. He said he knew nothing about any signed agreement.
2.
The Ambassador said that commercial conversations were also proceeding in Rome between the Japanese Ambassador and the Italian Foreign Office but that he had not been kept informed of their progress and knew only what he had seen in the press. He said that so far as he himself was aware the question of Italian technical assistance to Japanese aviation had not arisen. (The information on this point contained in my No. 245 was received from his Naval Attaché.)
3.
The Nichi Nichi this morning states that the Japanese Foreign Office is displeased with the intimations emanating from Rome that an Italian-Japanese political agreement is being negotiated. These intimations are blamed on excessive desire for propaganda on the part of the Italians. It appears that the Japanese authorities wish to avoid the implication that a German-Italian-Japanese Fascist bloc is being formed.
Grew