751G.94/402: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Leahy) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 4—10:07 p.m.]
1493. We talked with Ostrorog today who was delighted with the report that the President has asked the Japanese negotiators in Washington why Japan wishes to increase its occupational forces in Indochina.56 He then referred to a Domei press report from Tokyo dated December 2 which stated that: “the official spokesman of the French Government has said that France would permit Japan to use her bases and facilities in Indochina in the event of war in the Far East”. This, he said, was utterly and completely false and had been fabricated in Tokyo; France had made no such statement and he had drafted the denial which Havas had sent abroad last evening. (Neither the Domei report nor the denial was published in the French press.)
He then went on to say that the Japanese had for over 2 months been pressing the French to permit them to increase substantially their forces in Indochina the number provided for in the Franco-Japanese agreement of May 9, 1941. Some time ago, he said, after constant pressure from the Japanese, particularly in Indochina, the French Embassy at Tokyo had finally been instructed to inform the Japanese Government that France would resist with such force as she had at her disposal any attempt to increase Japanese garrisons in Indochina beyond the terms of the agreement. He said that he had personally urged this policy of resistance because, while the French in Indochina were actually powerless to resist the Japanese, he believed that the threat of French resistance, coupled with the stand which England and the United States had taken in the Far East, would be sufficient to keep the Japanese from increasing their forces. Upon receipt of this notification, the Japanese had agreed that they would make no such increases at the moment but gave no assurances that they would not do so in the future. He went on to say, however, that the Japanese recently had been sending large amounts of military equipment and material to Indochina.
Now that the question of the increase in Japanese forces in Indochina has become a part of the negotiations in Washington, he said, the French position is considerably strengthened. We asked him what position the French Government would take in the event of hostilities breaking out in the Far East and he replied that while theoretically the French would continue to hold to their position that the Japanese occupation of Indochina was purely for defense of that territory and that no offensive action would be tolerated, should war actually break [Page 369] out he did not see what France could do since the Japanese were so thoroughly installed there they were complete masters of the situation.
He is still of the opinion, however, that Japan will not declare war and that the Tojo Government will resign and a new government, possibly headed by Prince Konoye, will replace it.
- See memorandum of a conversation, December 2, 1941, Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941, vol. ii, p. 778.↩