751G.94/137: Telegram
The Ambassador in Japan (Grew) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 23—8:55 a.m.]
881. 1. Following is text of official Japanese communiqué published in Tokyo today:
“With a view to settling the China affair and thereby facilitate the establishment of a new order in East Asia, the Foreign Minister, Mr. Yosuke Matsuoka, held conversations in a friendly spirit with the French Ambassador, Mr. Charles Arsene-Henry, on basic matters regarding the question of French Indochina at Tokyo during the month of August of this year.
As a result of these conversations, France agreed to afford [accord?] in French Indochina all such facilities of military nature as are required by the Japanese Army and Navy for executing their campaign for the settlement of the China affair.
On the basis of this agreement, negotiations were conducted on the spot—at Hanoi—for the purpose of deciding upon concrete matters between the Japanese and French military authorities, which resulted in an agreement in the afternoon of September 22.”
2. Following is close translation of French text which the French Embassy informs me was by mutual agreement to have been published as a joint communiqué in Vichy, Hanoi and Tokyo today:
“With a view to contributing to the establishment of the new order in East Asia and the solution of Chinese affairs, negotiations on fundamental questions concerning French Indochina have been carried on in Tokyo, during the month of August last, in a very friendly atmosphere, between Mr. Matsuoka, Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Mr. Arsene-Henry, French Ambassador.
The Japanese Government has given the French Government the assurance that it intends to respect the rights and interests of France in the Far East and notably the territorial integrity of Indochina and the sovereign rights of France over all parts of the Indochinese union.
For its part the French Government has agreed to accord to the Japanese Government for the Imperial Army and Navy special facilities in Indochina for the pursuit of their operations. Conversations with a view to regulating the details of these facilities of a military nature have been held in Hanoi between the Japanese and French military authorities who on September 22 reached a satisfactory agreement.”
3. The foreign spokesman in a statement issued today declared inter alia that “inasmuch as the present agreement between Japan [Page 146] and France has been based on peaceful talks between the two countries, there could be no objection to it from any other foreign country.”
4. The Chief of the Army Intelligence Section Imperial Headquarters is quoted in the press as stating inter alia: “The Franco-Japanese talk was at first opened in a friendly atmosphere. But certain third countries, which are opposed to the establishment of the Far Eastern sphere of common prosperity, concentrated their effort in French Indochina to interfere with the negotiations going on between the Japanese and Indochinese authorities. Consequently the negotiations dragged on longer than they should have.” That officer attributes the clash between Japanese and Indochinese troops to the eleventh hour signing of the agreement and the difficulty of conveying news of the agreement to the farthest point along the border.