856D.6363/807: Telegram
The Consul General at Batavia (Foote) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 22—6:57 a.m.]
Reference is made to my telegram of January 21, 11 a.m. Official reaction to the Japanese proposals is that they are ridiculous and absurd and form no basis whatsoever for discussion or negotiation. The head of the Netherlands delegation has just informed me that [Page 28] he will deliver his idea of an agenda to the Japanese delegation within the next few days but that he will neither refer to nor take any notice whatever of the Japanese suggestions which are regarded as being nearly duplicates of the demands that the Japanese made on French Indochina. He also informed me in strict confidence that he will endeavor to prolong the negotiations as long as possible in order to give Great Britain more time to bring about a change in the situation in Europe.