793.94/7749: Telegram
The Counselor of Embassy in China (Lockhart) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 25—10:55 a.m.]
89. Embassy’s 79, February 20, 5 p.m. According to a report of the Tokyo Asahi of this morning, the following army changes will occur in March. Lieutenant General Seiji Kozuki, now commanding the 12th division in Japan, will succeed Major General Tada as commander of the North China Garrison. Colonel Seiichi Kita, who reputedly will be promoted on March 1st to major general, will be Kozuki’s Chief of Staff. (Kita was chief of the Japanese Military Mission at Shanhaikwan in 1933 when the Japanese occupied that city, was involved in the conclusion of the Tangku truce,94 visited Chinese Minister twice during last year, and is at present chief of the China section of the Japanese General Staff at Tokyo.) Major General Doihara will be succeeded as chief of the Special Service Mission at Mukden by Colonel Takayoshi Matsumuro, who reputedly will be made on March 1st a major general. (Matsumuro was chief of the Special Military Mission at Chengteh after the Japanese occupation of Jehol and is now in Japan).
- 2.
- Replacing of a major general and a colonel by a lieutenant general and a major general as the two principal officers of the North China Garrison would presumably foreshadow a substantial increase in its numerical strength and perhaps in its powers for negotiation with North China Chinese leaders.
- 3.
- According to a Japanese Domei report of February 24 from Tokyo, Sugiyama, Vice Chief of Staff at Tokyo, referred to in the Embassy’s 21, January 16, 4 p.m., has postponed his tour of Manchuria and North China until the middle of March.
By mail to Tokyo.
- Signed May 31, 1933, Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941, vol. i, p. 120.↩