Office of the Historian

793.94 Conference/269: Telegram

The Ambassador in Japan (Grew) to the Secretary of State

Tokyo, November 18, 1937—10 a.m.
[Received November 18—8:55 a.m.]

548. Your 300, November 16, 8 p.m.

1.
In a conversation with the Minister for Foreign Affairs at his residence at 9 o’clock this morning I fully carried out your instructions. [Page 211] The Minister said that the clearing up of his misunderstanding concerning the inclusion in the Brussels declaration of the phrase “united action” went far to allay his “fears” which he had expressed to me the other day.
2.
I talked extensively concerning the erroneous impression which had been conveyed to him and is being expanded in Tokyo concerning alleged American initiative and leadership in connection with the Brussels Conference and I urged him strongly in the interests of good relations between our two countries to make every effort to correct these unfounded rumors. Mr. Hirota said that he would take definite steps to do so and that he would also convey my information to his colleagues.
3.
Mr. Hirota expressed pleasure at your message conveyed in paragraph numbered 3 and asked me to thank you for it. As Hirota’s knowledge of English is not too secure, I am sending him at his specific request a close paraphrase.
4.
Hirota has now informed me that the “diplomatic representative” mentioned in paragraph numbered 2 of my 544, November 16, 1 p.m., is in Brussels and not in Tokyo. We are informed from another reliable official source that the Italian delegate to the Conference has kept Kurusu2 informed of every step taken by the Conference and it therefore suggests itself that Aldrovandi may have been the official whom Hirota had in mind.
5.
So far as my colleagues here are concerned, we are aware from conversations with them and their staffs that some of them are apparently honestly convinced that the United States has taken the leadership in connection with the convoking and the proceedings of the Brussels Conference, and we are definitely aware that the impressions of those colleagues have been reflected in their conversations with prominent Japanese. In justice to those colleagues, however, I feel that I should withdraw even from the “strictly confidential” record the possible imputation conveyed in our word “expect” in paragraph numbered 15 of our 544 that those colleagues have been or are purposely working against the interests of the United States in Japan.
6.
We are also informed from the second source referred to in paragraph 1 [4?] that Kurusu has excellent contacts with American correspondents covering the Conference, and that he has also been obtaining information, not only from the Italian delegation, but from “one or two” other delegations. To illustrate the current impressions in Brussels, our informant stated that Kurusu reported that, according to information which he had received from a Chinese source at Brussels, the American delegation had intimated to the Chinese delegation that something more than the moral support of [Page 212] the United States would be forthcoming if China should continue its resistance against Japan. Our informant commented that, in view of the original source of the report, Tokyo does not attach much credence to it. A Domei despatch from Paris published here this morning reports that “sources close to the Quai d’Orsay revealed” that the American delegation protested to the French delegation against the French embargo on exports to China through Indo-China of arms and munitions. The Japanese version of this despatch is calculated to give the impression that the American delegation is taking a more rigorous position than is the French delegation.
7.
The comments in paragraphs numbered 4 and 6 above are given merely as illustrations of the efforts that are apparently being made in various quarters to ascribe to the United States the sole active and leading role in the Brussels Conference. The results of those efforts are of course reflected in Tokyo.
Grew
  1. Saburo Kurusu, Japanese Ambassador in Belgium.↩