793.94/8797: Telegram
The Ambassador in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 16—1:10 p.m.]
247. Department’s 115, July 13, 2 p.m.25 On July 14 the French Ambassador informed me that he had received a telegram from Paris stating that Japanese Ambassador had informed the French Foreign Office of the North China situation and had stated that Japan could no longer countenance the anti-Japanese situation existing in North China; that the nation was behind the Japanese Government in its determination to take such steps as might be necessary to eliminate this anti-Japanese feeling. The French Ambassador stated that the Japanese Ambassador had added that Japan had no intention of taking any action in South China.
We both interpret this to mean that Japanese Government is determined now to take all steps necessary to separate this area from Nanking.
Repeated to Tokyo and Nanking.