793.94/8726: Telegram
The Counselor of Embassy in China (Peck) to the Secretary of State
Nanking, July
12, 1937—6 p.m.
[Received July 12—4:14 p.m.]
[Received July 12—4:14 p.m.]
268. Our 267, July 12, 5 p.m.
- 1.
- An officer of the Embassy has been informed by a responsible official of the Foreign Office that in the conversations between the Foreign Office and the Japanese Embassy of July 11th and of today the Japanese advanced the view that (1) North China is a special almost independent region; (2) whatever occurs there is no proper concern of the National Government; (3) the National Government has been acting “illegally” in attempting to augment and nationalize the 29th Army; (4) the present affair is one which can be settled only by negotiations with regional authorities in the north; (5) the National Government should not interfere in the matter.
- 2.
- The informant said the Foreign Office had intimated to Hidaka that Kawagoe should come to Nanking to arrange a settlement but Hidaka had replied that this was not necessary because it was his Government’s policy to deal locally with matters arising in North China and he himself, having recently been Chargé d’Affaires, was a sufficiently responsible official to conduct the Japanese side of any essential conversations with the Foreign Office.
- 3.
- He said (1) the Foreign Office late July 10 sent a written protest to the Japanese Embassy which recapitulated the Chinese situation as previously explained to the Japanese orally, and (2) no reply to this communication had been received.
- 4.
- Sent to the Department, Peiping, Tokyo.
Peck