761.9411/72: Telegram
The First Secretary of Embassy in China (Smyth) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 30—10:15 a.m.]
Following from Mukden for Peiping.
“1, January 29, 6 p.m. An American in the Hsinking Foreign Office divulged the following information concerning recent Soviet-Japanese negotiations, guaranteeing its authenticity:
No progress is being made because the Japanese want to sign the pact first and settle pending issues later whereas the Soviets want the [Page 907] causes of conflict removed before signing, their condition for concluding a pact otherwise being the retrocession of Southern Saghalien to Russia.
My informant added that inner circles in Hsinking consider the results of the Yoshizawa6 mission in the Dutch East Indies fateful, feeling certain that if they are unsatisfactory Japan will take military action against the Netherlands East Indies.”
Sent to the Department. Repeated to Chungking and Tokyo.
- Kenkichi Yoshizawa, former Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs.↩