751G.94/134: Telegram
The Consul at Hanoi (Reed) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 22—6:40 p.m.]
My telegram of September 22, 8 a.m.91 I have been informed by the Secretary General that at 3 p.m. today an agreement was signed [Page 142] by Generals Martin and Nishihara92 giving the Japanese the use of 3 air bases (including the Gialiam airport), all north of the Red River, and allowing them to station 6,000 soldiers at those bases, as well as a small number at Haiphong. The first contingent of Japanese troops is expected to arrive tomorrow at Haiphong.
He also said that subsequent to the signing of the agreement the general commanding the Langson area received a letter from the Canton army, written prior to the signing of the agreement, threatening that the Canton army intended to enter Indochina by way of the Kwangsi frontier either tonight or tomorrow morning and planned to occupy Hanoi. General Nishihara immediately sent a Japanese officer by airplane to the Kwangsi frontier to prevent if possible the threatened invasion. The Secretary General stressed that French forces would resist any Japanese aggression outside the scope of the agreement.
He stated that the agreement had been signed under pressure and in self-defense, that otherwise an attack this evening or in the immediate future was to be expected. He expressed the hope that Indochina would be in a better position to resist further Japanese demands which he anticipated would be made in the not distant future. He was convinced that the Japanese would endeavor eventually to push towards the south, thus endangering Singapore and the Philippines.
The Secretary General gave his personal opinion that, with or without Vichy’s consent, Indochina would not have made any agreement with Japan if Indochina had had airplanes and sufficient munitions. In this connection I venture the opinion that for the time being the French Army will honor the agreement but will resist any extension of Japanese activities.
Sent to Cavite for repetition to the Department, Chungking, Peiping, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Canton. Chungking please repeat to Kunming. Bangkok is being informed.
- Not printed.↩
- Copies of five documents constituting the agreements made between August 30 and September 22 were supplied by the French Foreign Office to the American Chargé in France who telegraphed translations to the Department in telegram No. 010, September 23, 8 p.m. (751G.94/147), and forwarded the French texts with despatch No. 10, September 26 (751G.94/207).↩