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756.94/28: Telegram

The Consul General at Batavia ( Dickover ) to the Secretary of State

Batavia , April 16, 1940—3 p.m.
[Received April 16—9:50 a.m.]

Reference telegram[s] Nos. 245, 248 and 249 from the Embassy at Tokyo to the Department.17

1.
Attitude of the Government of the Netherlands Indies is that, even should the Netherlands be conquered by Germany, the Indies will strive to exist thereafter as an independent nation. It is pointed out that the rights of the Netherlands in the Indies were guaranteed by the signatories to the Four Power Pact in 922 [1921]18 This [Page 9] guarantee, however, would not appear to apply should the Netherlands cease to exist as a sovereign state.
2.
It is feared here that, should Germany invade the Netherlands, Germans in the East Indies, numbering several thousands, might attempt a coup designed to take over the Government. This would give Japan an excuse “to protect” the Netherlands Indies.
3.
With this fear in mind, beginning yesterday the principal railway stations, telephone exchanges, radio stations, banks, et cetera, have been placed under military guard.

Repeated to Tokyo.

Dickover
  1. Dated April 14, 8 p.m., April 15, 6 p.m., and April 15, 8 p.m.; none printed. See press release issued on April 15 by the Japanese Embassy at Washington. Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941, vol. ii, p. 281.↩
  2. Signed at Washington, December 13, 1921; Foreign Relations, 1922, vol. ii, p. 33.↩