893.24/1119
The Consul at Hanoi ( Reed ) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 20.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to telegram no. 882 of June 26, 4 p.m., 1941, from the Embassy at Tokyo to the Department,77 transmitting the translation of the reply of the Japanese Foreign Minister78 to the representations made by the Embassy on June 5, 1941,79 with regard to the seizures by the Japanese military authorities of transit cargoes in Tonkin which are either American-owned or in which there is an American interest. The following brief comment may be made with regard to the statements made in that reply.
In the third paragraph the Japanese Foreign Minister mentions the sending of a committee to Indochina to supervise the traffic with China, in particular to see that no goods were transmitted across Indochina for delivery to China, and he points out that the authorities of French Indochina cooperated with the Japanese committee in this matter. The final realization of this cooperation was summarized in the agreement of August, 1940, whereunder the Government General undertook to deliver no transit or re-exportation permits for any of the transit cargoes in Tonkin without securing in advance the consent of the Japanese Mission to the issuance of such permits.
In the fourth paragraph the Japanese Foreign Minister indicates that the Japanese authorities, i. e., the Japanese Mission, were anxious [Page 202] to avoid violation of the interests of third powers and third power nationals and that, when these authorities found evidence to overcome the presumption that the goods were “military materials consigned to the Chungking regime”, the Japanese authorities recognized as appropriate the transportation of these goods to a point outside of Indochina. The Japanese Foreign Minister stresses that the Japanese authorities made every effort to ascertain whether there was any evidence to overcome the above-mentioned presumption and were very careful in dealing with this matter.
At one time or another since the installation of the Japanese Mission in Indochina and since the entering into effect of the agreement of August, 1940, the greater part of the transit cargoes in Tonkin, either American-owned or in which there is an American interest, were granted re-exportation permits by the Government General of Indochina after securing the approval of the Japanese Mission. Therefore, it may be presumed that when the Japanese Mission approved of the Government General issuing a re-exportation permit the Japanese Mission was in possession of “conclusive proof” that the goods in question were not “military materials consigned to the Chungking regime”.
From the beginning of the Japanese supervision of transit across Indochina early in July, 1940, the authorities of French Indochina made available to the Japanese Mission all customs documents and declarations—from the date of the S.S. Sikiang affair,81 late in October, 1940, the authorities of French Indochina permitted Japanese inspectors to enter all bonded warehouses and to check the contents with customs documents and declarations. Accordingly, the Japanese authorities were at all times in possession of evidence establishing a prima facie case of the private ownership of the bulk of the goods in question and there was at no time an “absence of evidence to the contrary” as the Japanese Foreign Minister asserts in the fifth paragraph.
My various protests to the Government General and to the Japanese Consul General, the representations made through the Chief of the Military Cabinet, who was and is negotiating directly with the Japanese Mission with regard to the transit cargoes in Indochina, and through the French Liaison Officer with the Japanese Mission at Haiphong, who has been and is in direct communication with the Japanese military authorities, were unequivocable indications to the Japanese authorities that they had to do with transit cargoes either American-owned or in which there was an American interest—and [Page 203] these indications were in addition to the numerous applications for re-exportation permits which had been submitted to the Government General and to the Japanese Mission in the course of the preceding 10 months.
Respectfully yours,
- Not printed.↩
- June 24, 1941; Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941, vol. ii, p. 313.↩
- For formal note dated June 3, presented on June 5, 1941, by the Ambassador in Japan to the Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs, see ibid., p. 312.↩
- For explanation of this incident, as transmitted to the Department by the Consul at Hanoi in his telegram No. 23, October 26, 1940, 4 p.m., see Foreign Relations, 1940, vol. iv, p. 194.↩