793.94/8843: Telegram
The Counselor of Embassy in China (Peck) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 19—10:55 a.m.]
300. 1. According to a responsible Secretary of the Japanese Embassy, Kawagoe is not coming to Nanking at present but will remain for a while at Tientsin. The Secretary said confidentially that Hidaka very recently had occasion to repeat to the Chinese Foreign Office the remarks of his Ambassador addressed to the Vice Minister Chen Chieh about July 2 that, in the absence of the Ambassador, Hidaka would be the Ambassador’s personal representative and had full authority to act for the Japanese Embassy in China and that any question which might arise would be dealt with in the discretion of Hidaka or of the Japanese Government. This would seem to indicate that Kawagoe has practically eliminated himself for the time being from purely diplomatic Sino-Japanese business.
2. The informant said that Hidaka considered that, in view of the above, repetition by Foreign Office spokesman of the Foreign Office’s desire that Kawagoe come to Nanking was “quite insulting.”
3. Sent to Peiping, Tokyo, Tientsin.