793.94/11935: Telegram
The Ambassador in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 2—4:10 a.m.]
2. My 1, January 1, 10 p.m. While Hsu Mo was with me, Gage, representative of British Embassy, came in and in my presence Hsu Mo handed to him copy of terms which he had given me. He said to Gage that he understood that Chinese Ambassador had seen Cadogan8 who had remarked that China could of course not accept these terms. Hsu made same comments about terms to Gage that he had made to me.
In general conversation which followed, Gage remarked to Hsu Mo that this explained why German Ambassador had been depressed during the past few days. He said that German Ambassador had said to him yesterday “Why do you continue to encourage the Chinese to fight the Japanese” and Gage commented that of course no nation was encouraging the Chinese to fight the Japanese. Hsu said “The German Ambassador should urge the Japanese not to fight the Chinese”.
After the departure of Hsu, Gage said to me that he had met German Ambassador at the house of the principal German military adviser Falkenhausen yesterday at which time question was asked. Gage stated that apparently the German Government was recalling [Page 3] all of the German advisers. He said that adviser Krummacher said to him that he and Falkenhausen were remaining with the Chinese no matter what the German Government thought or did about it.
I dined at the house of a German friend last evening and found him much wrought up over a German illustrated paper which he had just received indicating that the press in Germany was propagating the thought that the Japanese were indeed fighting communism in China, using as evidence of this illustrations from Associated Press taken in Communist areas of northwest China by Edgar Snow. He stated to me that German Chamber of Commerce here in China had telegraphed home trying to counteract this propaganda by pointing out that Japan was driving the Chinese into the arms of Russia but without avail.
Shanghai inform Commander-in-Chief. Peiping repeat to Tokyo.
- Sir Alexander M. G. Cadogan, British Permanent Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.↩