793.94/15848: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Bullitt) to the Secretary of State
[Received 5:05 p.m.]
573. Chauvel showed me this morning a number of telegrams from the Far East controlling feature of which gave a fairly clear idea of the French position.
He stated that about March 8 when transit over the French railroad from Indochina to China had been resumed the Japanese Ambassador in Paris had called on him to say that if oil and trucks should be shipped over the railroad the railroad would again be bombarded by the Japanese.
He, Chauvel, had replied that oil and trucks were already going forward over the railroad and that it seemed to him extraordinary that the Japanese Government should consider bombarding the French railroad at a time when the Japanese Government was engaged in commercial negotiations with the French Government.
Fifty days had passed and the Japanese had not bombarded the railroad. Then about 8 days ago the railroad again had been bombarded.
Chauvel showed me a telegram from the French Ambassador in Tokyo received yesterday giving the details of the protest he had made on instructions from his Government against this bombardment. The reply of the Japanese Foreign Minister was that he and the Government were opposed to bombardments of this railroad but that it was very difficult to restrain the Japanese military leaders. The Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs then indicated that he would make a further effort to persuade the Japanese military leaders not to bombard the railroad.
Chauvel showed me also a telegram from the French representative at Tientsin which indicates that the Japanese blockade of the French Concession was now much more severe than the blockade of the British Concession.25 This telegram also contained the statement that the Japanese in the Tientsin area were saying that France not England was now Japan’s chief enemy.
With regard to the Tientsin situation a telegram from the French Ambassador to Tokyo stated that he had said to the Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs that the French Government would be disposed to make a settlement of the question of the silver at Tientsin on all fours with the settlement the British had negotiated on condition that before this settlement should be agreed upon the blockade of the [Page 321] French Concession should cease. The French Ambassador added that this statement had pleased the Japanese Foreign Minister greatly.
Chauvel had little information about the present status of the efforts of the French and British to prevent shipments to Germany from Japan via Vladivostok. He said that this matter was being handled by the British and by the joint committee in London. He expected to have more information as soon as Rist26 should reach Paris. He could assure me, however, that the fears of the Chinese that French policy with regard to the Far East would be altered in order to obtain a cessation of Japanese shipments to Vladivostok were groundless.
Incidentally Paul Reynaud27 made the same statement to me this morning and added that there had been no change whatsoever in French policy vis-à-vis Japan and China.
The Chinese Ambassador, Wellington Koo, called on me this morning and expressed the fears alluded to above. I gave him as a personal impression exactly the reply which Reynaud and Chauvel later made to me.
The Chinese Ambassador also said to me that he had reason to believe that the Spanish Government was thinking of recognizing the Wang Ching Wei regime in China and would be obliged if I could obtain some information on this subject from our Embassy at Madrid.
Chauvel on the contrary expressed to me exactly the opposite opinion. He said that the French Government had a private indication that the Spanish representative in China desired to go to Chungking.
Wellington Koo also said to me that he understood that there had been some discussion of a loan from France, England and the United States to China to be secured by Chinese supplies of wolfram and antimony.28 He asked me if I knew anything about the latest developments with regard to this question.
I replied that I had no information on this subject.
I gathered that Wellington Koo, in his discreet manner, was approaching a subject which Li Yu Ying29 had taken up with me a few days ago.
Li Yu Ying said that T. V. Soong had cabled him, urgently directing him to obtain my personal opinion as to the advisability of his making a trip to the United States at the present time in connection with negotiations for the sales of various Chinese metals and the development of the production of these metals in China. I replied that I knew nothing about any such negotiations and I must decline to express any opinion on the subject.
[Page 322]Li Yu Ying who is usually more discreet insisted no less than four times on having an expression of my opinion about the advisability of a trip by T. V. Soong. Finally I was obliged to say that it was not my habit to express opinions on subjects about which I knew nothing and that I hoped he would telegraph just that to T. V. Soong.
Li Yu Ying will return to Paris from Geneva in a few days and I should be obliged if you could give me some indication as to the reply you would wish me to make to him if he should again bring up the question of T. V. Soong visiting the United States in the near future.