740.00116 Pacific War/16
The Swiss Legation to the Department of State6
D. 7.
The Legation of Switzerland, representing the Japanese interests in the Philippines and in Samoa, has the honor to advise the Department of State of the following:
“The Government of Japan was informed by the Japanese Consul Mori at Davao that the authorities of the United States proceeded, at the time of the taking of possession of the island by the Japanese troops, to the massacre of ten persons among the Japanese residents inhabiting the Province of Mindanao. The Government of Japan considers such an act, whatever the reasons may have been, as brutal, illegal and inadmissible barbarism, both from the point of view of humanity and from that of international law. The Government of Japan protests very energetically to the Government of the United States of America against such an act and formally requests that all necessary measures be taken to avoid the repetition of such actions.”
The Legation would be grateful to the Department of State if the latter would be so good as to acknowledge the receipt of this communication.
- For press release issued by the Department on December 29, 1941, concerning this note, see Department of State Bulletin, January 3, 1942, p. 5.↩