Foreign Relations of the United States, Diplomatic Papers, 1942, China

740.0011 Pacific War/2959

Memorandum by the Adviser on Political Relations (Hornbeck)

[Washington,] December 26, 1942.

Reference, memorandum of November 27, 1942 on the subject of Japanese intentions in regard to an offensive against China from Burma and/or Indochina.

Items which have become available since November 27, a series of which is here attached,⁶¹ relating in whole or in part to the subject of the memorandum under reference, show that:

1. For many weeks the Chinese military spokesman at Chungking continued publicly to express an opinion that the Japanese were increasing their forces in Burma for the purpose of undertaking an attack upon Yunnan Province, China;

2. Chinese Military Intelligence sources and English and American military officers in the Far East continued to estimate that Japanese military activity in Burma indicated no large increase of forces in that area and was primarily defensive in character; and

3. On December 23, 1942, the Chunking radio broadcast reported the Chinese military spokesman as saying: “The new Japanese activity on the Burma–Yunnan border is not likely to lead to any immediate wide scale action”.⁶²

S[tanley] K. H[ornbeck]

61. None printed.
62. See memorandum of January 4, 1943, by the Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs (Hamilton) to Mr. Hornbeck, p. 190.