793.94/9512: Telegram
The Ambassador in Italy (Phillips) to the Secretary of State
[Received 2 p.m.]
378. In the course of a conversation with Count Ciano46 yesterday afternoon, I said I should appreciate any information he could give me with regard to his policy and viewpoint in connection with the Far Eastern crisis. Ciano replied that the Italian Government was in particularly friendly relations with the Japanese Government, that Japan had not taken any part in the sanctions and had been among the first to recognize the Empire. Speaking generally theretofore Japan occupied a particularly favorable position in Italian circles. With this preface Count Ciano continued that the policy of the Italian Government was that of strict neutrality between Japan and China. He added that some little time ago he had had an opportunity to counsel the Chinese with whom he personally was on particularly friendly terms in view of the official positions which he had occupied in China. He had advised the Chinese Government to come to terms with Japan, that it was better “to lose a leg even though the operation was a painful one than the more vital parts of the body”. He had remarked that the Japanese forces were so vastly superior to the Chinese that the only safe policy for China was to reach some peaceful solution.
Ciano informed me that Italian interests in China did not justify any initiative on the part of the Italian Government but that Italy would gladly follow that of the United States or of Great Britain if there was any movement contemplated for the purpose of localizing the conflict and of reaching a peaceful solution. He also told me that he had information which satisfied him that the Soviet Government had been urging China to resist Japan, that Russian war materials had gone forward and that it was clearly the intention of the Soviet Government to create in China as much turmoil as possible; that this would serve two purposes: the weakening of Japan and the spread of communism throughout China.
- Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs.↩