Office of the Historian

793.94/8897: Telegram

The Ambassador in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State

Peiping, July 21, 1937—6 p.m.
[Received July 21—11:15 a.m.]

272. Embassy’s 267, July 20, 6 p.m., and 268, July 20, 9 p.m.56

1.
A secretary of the Japanese Embassy informed a member of my staff this morning that firing in the vicinity of the town of Wanpinghsien [Page 235] ended at about 9 o’clock last night to the satisfaction of the Japanese as the Japanese attained their objective of ending sniping in that area by (a) driving out of that town and to the west bank of the Yungting River soldiers of the 37th Division which had reentered the territory after their first retirement, and (b) by destroying the east gate and the north wall of the town.
2.
The informant claimed that negotiators in Tientsin had arrived at a satisfactory and detailed definition of the clause of the July 11 agreement with regard to suppression of anti-Japanese activities. However, the progress of negotiations in Tientsin remains obscure as Chinese and Japanese statements with regard thereto continue to disagree.
3.
Sung Che Yuan is reported by a Chinese official to have had conversations yesterday with Colonel Matsuda and Major Imai.57 One subject discussed was apparently the withdrawal to west of the Yung-ting River of troops of the 37th Division stationed at Hsiyuan (near the Summer Palace) and within Peiping. A secretary of the Japanese Embassy said in conversation this morning that it had been agreed that the troops at Hsiyuan were to withdraw 10 o’clock this morning and that those in Peiping would not withdraw for some time. Although it is reliably reported that no movement had begun at Hsiyuan up to noon today, some amicable though perhaps temporary arrangement with regard to these two groups of troops was apparently reached. Other subjects discussed in Tientsin conversations are reported to have been comparatively minor ones.
4.
Although fresh barricades of sand bags were erected last night by Chinese across some streets in Peiping, the city is quiet, trains are running, and, reports to the contrary notwithstanding, the troops of the 37th Division in Peiping are not causing trouble at present.

Repeated to Nanking and Tokyo.

Johnson
  1. Latter not printed.↩
  2. The latter was Japanese Assistant Military Attaché in China at Peiping.↩