740.0011 Pacific War/681: Telegram
The Minister in Thailand (Peck) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 5—1:30 p.m.]
551. During a call on the Minister for Foreign Affairs this morning in reference to gasoline supplies, he informed me that the Japanese Ambassador58 had just called and informed him that the Japanese forces in Indochina definitely would not be used to invade Thai[land] and that they were concentrated for use against the Burma Road. Consequently Thailand need feel no anxiety. The Minister for Foreign Affairs informed me that his Government, in spite of Japanese [Page 372] assurances, is nevertheless greatly worried because it has received additional evidence that an attack by land and air is imminent. He was unwilling to tell the nature of the evidence but said he had asked the British Minister to call in order to check up on the report. My British colleague has received no evidence of this sort recently so far as I am aware. The Foreign Minister inquired anxiously whether I had reported to the American Government the hope of the Thai Government that public statements would be issued by Great Britain and the United States promising to stand by Thailand if invaded by Japan (see Legation’s 550, December 4, 3 p.m.).
- Teiji Tsubokami.↩