740.00/1192: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Kennedy) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 27—3:25 p.m.]
570. I saw Halifax30 today to urge him to take a strong position on the barter situation. The matter is now in the hands of the technical experts, but I am keeping on top of it.
While I was there the Japanese Ambassador came out and I asked Halifax some questions about his visit. He told me he understood the Germans were trying to persuade the Japanese that the English overtures to Russia were really a gesture against Japan and that the Germans were urging the Japanese to turn the Anti-Comintern Pact into an offensive and defensive alliance. Halifax said he assured the Japanese Ambassador that any talks they had with Russia did not presuppose any mixing up in the Japanese proceedings at all and that the British were inclined to confine themselves wholly to the situation in Europe, provided the Japanese behaved themselves reasonably well. Halifax said their information indicated that the Japanese were becoming a little more reasonable due to their own situation becoming a little more untenable.
- Viscount Halifax, British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.↩