793.94/16726
The Ambassador in China (Gauss) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 7.]
Sir: 1. I have the honor to enclose, as of possible interest to the Department, a copy of a memorandum40 of a conversation held by an officer of the Embassy with Mr. Shao Yu-lin, Director of the Department of Intelligence and Publicity of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on June 13, 1941. There is also enclosed copy of a document40 supplied by Mr. Shao during the course of the conversation, the nature of which was not made clear; it would appear, however, to constitute a Chinese estimate of certain factors in the Far Eastern situation based on information gathered from undisclosed official and unofficial sources.
2. In brief, there appears to be a feeling in official Chinese quarters that British appeasement of Japan is still an active possibility to be reckoned with in the Far East; that Japan has embarked on a campaign of “testing” the American attitude and policy, particularly with respect to Japanese pressure on the Netherlands Indies; and that Japan is endeavoring at the same time to come to an understanding with the United States and Great Britain which might prove mutually profitable to the Powers concerned—to the United States and Great Britain in Europe and to Japan in the Far East—at the expense of China and Germany.
3. Chinese distrust of Great Britain appears to remain as deep-seated as ever notwithstanding the statement issued by the British Ambassador to China at Chungking on May 9, 1941 to the effect that British policy toward China remained unchanged.* It does not seem likely that this want of confidence is likely to disappear so long as the possibility exists of Japan’s being divorced from its commitments under the Tripartite Pact.
4. The nature of the conversation in question and of the material contained in the attached document seems also to indicate that a [Page 269] certain apprehension is entertained in some Chinese circles with regard to news reports of alleged American-Japanese discussions looking to the settlement of Far Eastern problems. As was reported in my telegram no. 218, May 31, 1 p.m., this apprehension seems to have prevailed in certain Chinese quarters since the latter part of May 1941; but there is no evidence yet that it is giving Chinese leaders serious concern, especially in the light of concrete manifestations of American assistance to China and of the recent statements of the Secretary of State in regard to American policy toward Japan.
5. It seems likely that reports of American-Japanese negotiations are being deliberately spread by agents of the Axis Powers with a view to sowing doubts in the minds of China’s leaders of the good faith of the Anglo-Saxon Powers, to suggesting that the actions of those Powers are characterized by duplicity. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that the Japanese Government might attempt to enter into conversations with the American Government not only with this object in mind but also with a view to clarifying to such an extent as may be possible the precise attitude and policy of the American Government toward present and future Far Eastern developments.
Respectfully yours,
- Not printed.↩
- Not printed.↩
- Embassy’s telegrams Nos. 175, May 10, noon and 177, May 10, 2 p.m. [Footnote in the original; telegram No. 177 not printed; for telegram No. 175, see Vol. v, p. 646.]↩