793.94 Conference/110
Memorandum by the Assistant Secretary of State (Wilson) of a Conversation With the Second Secretary of the Belgian Embassy (Walravens)
Mr. Walravens, of the Belgian Embassy, explained that he was calling because the Ambassador was absent in New York. The Belgian Embassy, he said, had received a cable from Brussels, asking it to ascertain from us such information as we can give on two questions.
- (1)
- Whether the United States has any proposals to make at the conference and how we foresee that the work of the conference can be usefully initiated;
- (2)
- Have we any information as to the bases upon which the Japanese and Chinese Governments might enter upon negotiations.
In respect to question No. 1, I told Mr. Walravens that we had no proposal worked out to submit to the conference nor had we any plan of procedure which we proposed to support. I said we had been giving careful thought to the possibilities on which Japan and China might be prepared to enter discussions and on which a more stable state of affairs might be worked out in the Far East; Mr. Norman Davis had participated in these discussions and nothing tangible in the way of a proposal had been developed, our thoughts had been of the most general nature and we had felt it unwise to give them too much precision in anticipation of the meeting; Mr. Davis was proceeding there under Article 7 for full and frank communication with the other powers and we hoped this would bring about more fruitful results than an attempt to formulate plans in advance.
I said that Mr. Davis now planned to proceed directly to Brussels via Paris, where he would have several days before the conference and where he could discuss these matters.
In respect to question No. 2, I said that I only wished we had fuller information than we have on these matters, that our newspapermen in the Far East, Hallett Abend, Hugh Byas, Wilfred Fleisher, etc. were able to turn themselves into prophets with greater freedom [Page 95] than our diplomatic representatives allowed themselves and that I feared the information which Mr. van Langenhove14 was desirous of getting from us would only be obtained, as the result of painful and patient efforts, from the Japanese and Chinese if and when they could be induced to discuss these matters.
Mr. Walravens said that, in all probability, Mr. van Langenhove was concerned as to what the conference should do to reach a successful conclusion. I said I fully appreciated the difficulty that Mr. van Langenhove found himself in, that Mr. Davis would arrive several days early, perhaps the other delegates would also arrive early and the matter of the agenda and the method of approach to the questions could be thrashed out in the two or three days preceding the conference.15