751G.92/326: Telegram
The Ambassador in Japan (Grew) to the Secretary of State
Tokyo, March 11,
1941—7 p.m.
[Received March 11—11:27 a.m.]
[Received March 11—11:27 a.m.]
389. Embassy’s 387, March 11, noon.43
- 1.
- My French colleague informs me that the proposed exchange of notes embodying Japan’s mediation plan for settlement of the Thai-Indochina [Page 109] dispute was initialed this afternoon and that signature will follow in due course. It is assumed that the Japanese Government will soon publish the notes in order to register Mr. Matsuoka’s “successful” mediation.
- 2.
- I am informed that the Japanese note states in translation, “We propose for your unconditional acceptance the following terms”, and that the French note states, “We cede at your insistence”.
- 3.
- The Japanese guarantee the effective carrying out of the settlement. The French Government undertakes to enter into no agreement or entente with any other power which would result in placing Indochina in opposition to Japan. A commission headed by Japanese is to supervise the details of carrying out the terms of settlement.
- 4.
- The plan proposed by Matsuoka (see Embassy’s 345, March 2, 4 p.m.44) as well as another plan drawn up by Monsieur Robin and Matsumiya of the Japanese Foreign Office, both of which were regarded by the French Government as reasonable, were both discarded and the Japanese returned to their original plan with the qualification that the ceded territories were to be demilitarized. The French regard the loss of the Province of Battambang as the most serious condition of the settlement in view of its fertility in rice and other produce.
- 5.
- The final plan was presented in the form of a peremptory ultimatum by the mediators. My French colleague informs me that the chief Thai delegate, whom he met at the ceremony of initialing, characterized the settlement as “devoid of all common sense”.
Sent to the Department; repeated to Bangkok.
Grew