793.94/9098: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Bullitt) to the Secretary of State
[Received 3:30 p.m.]
1078. Continuing my 1077.23 (I talked with the Soviet Ambassador in Paris this afternoon who expressed the opinion that his Government would do nothing whatsoever to assist China at the present time).
Delbos then said that the Soviet Government had made the position that France would take if the Soviet Union should intervene. If the Soviet Union should contemplate intervention he felt sure that the Soviet Union would first inquire in Paris as to the attitude that France would take in case Germany or Italy or both should intervene against the Soviet Union. It had been clearly understood at the time of the signature of the Franco-Soviet treaty of mutual assistance24 that France was not bound to take any action whatsoever in the case of conflicts arising in the Far East. In so far as he could foresee the future, the position that France would take would depend entirely on the position of England. France could not undertake alone to [Page 302] fight Germany and Italy. The position of France would be the same as her position in the Spanish affair. If England should wish to stand firmly by the side of France against Germany and Italy, France would act. If England should continue to hold aloof, France could not act. France would never be caught in the position of having the Soviet Union as her only ally.
- Dated July 30, noon, vol. iv, p. 2.↩
- Signed at Paris, May 2, 1935, League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. clxvii, p. 395.↩