793.94/10588: Telegram
The Ambassador in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
[Received 2:20 p.m.]
798. A highly placed Chinese official, educated in Japanese military schools, has informed me that there can be no doubt that the present Japanese military operations on the mainland were planned in advance and are part of the scheme of Japanese expansion. He stated that General Matsui who is now in command of military operations in the Shanghai area is a leader of the Pan-Asiatic movement and is determined to drive Western influence, particularly British and American, from the Orient. As an indication that hostilities following Lukouchiao incident have not resulted merely from unsuccessful efforts to settle that incident but were planned, for information [he observed that a] bombing map of Nanking taken from a fallen Japanese plane bore a legend indicating it was made by the Japanese War Office on July 7. Informant believed, however, that Siberia is the main objective of the Japanese military policy and he pointed to the fact that the Japanese forces in China are regular troops supplemented by older reserve troops, the younger reserves being held for use later presumably against the Soviet Union. Informant asserted that military preparations in Korea and Manchuria exceed forces in China. Informant said China would resist Japanese invasion to the limit of its strength but he would frankly state that China expected foreign assistance in the effort to prevent Japan from obtaining hegemony of the Far East. He said that China is anxious for peace with Japan but as an equal not a vassal and that China does not hope that any other nation will fight Japan but only that China [hopes for?] moral support and war materials.
Repeated to Peiping and Tokyo.