893.51/6742: Telegram
The Ambassador in Japan (Grew) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 19—8 a.m.]
793. Department’s 419, December 15, 7 p.m. The following statement, as furnished to us by Hugh Byas,71 was made this afternoon by the Foreign Minister in reply to questions at a press conference with the foreign correspondents:
“Mr. Arita: An early cessation of hostilities in China is earnestly desired not only from the standpoint of peace in East Asia but for the sake of the nationals of third powers in China as well as of the 300,000,000 Chinese. Reported foreign loans to the Chiang Kai-shek regime though they may be purely trade propositions will necessarily lead to the prolongation of hostilities and the consequent embarrassment and inconvenience of foreign nationals. The report [Page 590] of an American loan is therefore an opportunity to say what we cannot but say: it is a regrettable act on the part of the United States which has hitherto acted with discretion and understanding in Chinese affairs; and if, as the United States papers say, it is a political gesture of the United States towards Japan, I think there will be nothing more dangerous.
The Japanese people may regard that the present loan is really intended as economic pressure by a powerful economic unit, and its results will prove quite contrary to what is expected by America. At least the Japanese people will undoubtedly find new grounds for strengthening the proposed new order in East Asia.
Personally, I am surely not inclined to regard the loan as a political gesture towards the activities of Japan.
Asked if those remarks would apply to a loan by Great Britain and how he would regard the prospect of common economic pressure by the United States and Great Britain, the Minister replied: ‘I say exactly the same thing; this applies to a British loan. But personally I am inclined not to regard that kind of loan as a political gesture’.”
- Tokyo representative of the New York Times and the London Times.↩