793.94119/693: Telegram
The Second Secretary of Embassy in China (Paxton) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 24—5:30 a.m.]
122. This office’s 121, November 19, 4 p.m.,83 Wang-Japanese negotiations. The French Consul yesterday evening told of an interview he had a few days ago with Hidaka, Counselor of the Japanese Embassy, at which the latter said that General Abe would return to this city shortly for formal signature of the treaty which had received approval at Tokyo.
This morning the same informant gave an account of a conversation he had just had with Chu Min Yi in which that official stated that the treaty would be signed by the end of this week as the prolonged delay was proving embarrassing; that German pressure had been influential in accelerating Japanese approval; that Italian recognition would follow Japanese action at once but that the Germans were not expected to act so promptly. It was also stated that the “principal terms” of the treaty would be published without delay but that certain [Page 444] economic points involving considerations of “military necessity” would not be given publicity as yet and that Abe would probably not continue as Japanese Ambassador to the Nanking regime after the treaty had been signed.
Sent to the Department; repeated to Chungking, Peking, and Shanghai. Code text by mail to Tokyo.
- Not printed.↩