Office of the Historian

751G.94/184a: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Chargé in France (Matthews), at Vichy

Washington, September 19, 1940—5 p.m.

504. Your 362, August 17, 4 p.m.; 496, September 5, 6 p.m.; 505, September 6, 4 p.m.; 544, September 11, 7 p.m., and related messages from the Department.

1.
From the information furnished by Baudoin and Chauvel the Department understands:
(a)
That on August 31 the French Government and the Japanese Government signed a “political agreement” under which the French Government recognized the “preponderance of Japanese interest” in Indochina and agreed to negotiate two supplementary accords, one economic and the other military, under the former of which France would recognize the “privileged position” of Japan in Indochina;
(b)
That under the “political agreement” Japan recognizes “permanent French interest in Indochina and the integrity of and French sovereignty over Indochina”;
(c)
That the said “political agreement” is to come into force subject to the conclusion of the two supplementary accords;
(d)
That no negotiations have as yet been entered into in regard to the economic accord;
(e)
That negotiations for the military accord have, with a few days’ interruption, proceeded and are continuing; and
(f)
That the French authorities in Indochina are attempting to persuade the Japanese to reduce the scope of their demands for passage of troops and use of aerodromes.
2.
Precise and comprehensive information in regard to the nature and scope of the negotiations in Indochina for the military accord have not yet been received by this Government.
3.
You are requested to raise with the French Government, as under instruction, the general question of these developments in an endeavor to obtain such information as the French Government may be in position to furnish in regard to the present situation in French Indochina. Please state that your Government would welcome especially specific, [Page 130] comprehensive and clear-cut information as to the nature and scope (in detail) of Japanese demands and of the negotiations now understood to be proceeding between Japanese military and French authorities in Indochina and would also welcome such further information as may exist in regard to the “political agreement” of August 31 and to any other engagement which the French Government may contemplate entering into with the Japanese Government. You may say that, in the opinion of this Government, the position of France in the Far East has been and continues to be an important one and the full information which it is hoped you may be able to transmit in response to this telegram will be most helpful in this Government’s deliberations on Far Eastern policy.
Hull