761.94/958
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Davies) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 8.]
Sir: I have the honor to report in connection with a recent conference which I had with the Japanese Ambassador, arranged at his request, concerning the Japanese attitude toward the Soviet Union. The Japanese Ambassador, Mr. Mamoru Shigemitsu, is a regular officer of the Japanese Army, a fine type of man, and of rather a liberal outlook. We had quite an extended discussion.
He stated that he wanted me to know that he and his Government had been making every effort to compose their differences with the Soviet Union; that he had encountered very great difficulty in persuading the Foreign Office here of the non-aggressive attitude of his Government; that they were exceedingly skeptical and suspicious; that apparently they were most confident of their military strength and [Page 60] power and were not disposed to meet his approaches, but that he had hopes that the situation might be bettered. In that connection he stated that the Japanese budget, including military appropriations, would be passed within the next two weeks, and that provision therein would be made for additional armed forces; that this was in fact made necessary, in part, by the Russian attitude; that the Japanese forces in “Manchukuo” consisted of five divisions which, with technical auxiliaries, did not exceed 100,000 men; that the Russian forces on the east consisted of 17 divisions; that accordingly it was necessary for them to increase their forces from five to seven divisions which the budget plan had made provision for; that his country did not require more than this in “Manchukuo” because of its proximity to the Japanese base. The impression which I gathered was that he was quite concerned about the aggressive attitude of the Soviet Union.
Respectfully yours,