Address Delivered by Norman H. Davis at the Nine-Power Conference, Brussels, on November 3, 193758
We have come to this Conference to collaborate in efforts toward an objective for which all peoples and all governments should strive. That objective is peace.
Sixteen years ago there assembled at Washington the delegates to a conference which had been called for the limitation of armaments [Page 405] and to find a solution of Pacific and Far Eastern problems of international concern, and thereby to safeguard peace in the Far East. After a few months of careful consideration of the problems involved, those delegates signed a number of interrelated agreements and resolutions which, it was believed, would assure the legitimate rights and interests of all the countries represented, which provided for various common and reciprocal concessions, and which committed the signatories to pursue policies of peace.
In that group of agreements was a treaty relating to principles and policies to be followed in matters concerning China. That treaty dealt with questions which are fundamental; it reaffirmed principles to which most of the signatories had already—some repeatedly—committed themselves; it specified not only what should be the obligations of the other powers but what should be the obligations of China; it was ratified by all of the nine powers present at the conference and it has since been adhered to by five other powers. In that treaty there was a provision that whenever a situation should arise which, in the opinion of any of the parties, involved the application of the stipulations of the treaty and rendered desirable discussion of such application, there should be full and frank communication between the contracting powers concerned.
It is in accordance with that express provision that we meet here today. Our present interest, however, would be real even if there were no such treaty and no such provision. The hostilities which are now being waged in the Far East are of serious concern not only to Japan and China but to the entire world.
For several decades the nations of the world have been seeking to evolve methods to achieve the twofold objective of preventing resort to armed force and, if unhappily it has been resorted to, finding means to bring the conflict to an end. Various methods have been proposed. Various instruments have been signed. In all of these there has appeared one common feature, namely, that where controversies develop, solution must be sought by pacific means. To this process 63 nations committed themselves by the Pact of Paris of 1928.
Peace, once envisaged only by idealists, has become a practical matter of vital self-interest to every nation. The day has long since gone by when the effects of an armed conflict are confined to the participants. It is all too apparent that under modern conditions the human and material sacrifices and the moral and spiritual costs exacted by the use of armed force not only fall as a heavy and oftentimes crushing burden upon the nations directly involved in the conflict but have grave repercussions upon all nations of the world.
Armed conflict, wherever it may occur, impairs everywhere the immeasurable value of freely negotiated treaties and agreements as effective and reliable safeguards of national security and international [Page 406] peace. The resulting loss of confidence in such instruments leads nations to seek safety in competitive armaments and to devote a disproportionate share of their resources thereto, thus impoverishing some nations and inexorably lowering the standards of life of all.
Not only does resort to armed force result in needless loss of human life and shock every humane instinct of mankind, but its disorganizing effects fall upon all phases of constructive human activity, national as well as international.
As a result of the amazing developments in science and industry there has come about an interdependence among nations, as a result of which the effects of any major disturbance are felt everywhere. As our modern civilization has evolved, as it has developed new methods and processes, as it has raised the standard of living of hundreds of millions of human beings all over the world, it has become increasingly sensitive to shock. A dislocation in any part of its interrelated mechanism throws other parts out of gear. It creates need for prompt and skillful attention at the point of dislocation in order to prevent further disturbance and possible break-down of the whole machinery.
International trade and financial relations, which are indispensable to human welfare, immediately suffer from the disorganizing effects of resort to armed force. It is through these channels that some of the most direct and most painful repercussions of any major armed conflict spread to the uttermost corners of the earth. Once mutually beneficial international economic relations are impaired or break down, nations are forced into varying degrees of reliance upon their own resources and, consequently, into a further lowering of their living standards.
Unfortunately the break-down of the processes of international trade and financial relations may occur as a result of other causes than armed conflict. For reasons which I need not enumerate here, nations may elect to embark upon policies directed toward economic self-sufficiency or toward securing immediate though narrow advantages, thus foregoing the broad and cumulative benefits which trade released from excessive restraint will yield. Such policies in themselves create conditions conducive to a threat to peace. The world has witnessed during the past few years the emergence of such conditions and the unfolding of the vicious spiral of economic warfare, political tension, competitive armaments, and actual armed conflict.
In the particular circumstances with which we are confronted at the present Conference, our objective is the restoration of peace and stability in an extraordinarily important region of the world. But as we seek earnestly the means of attaining these objectives, let us keep in our minds also the pressing need for constructive effort directed toward the creation of conditions which will make unthinkable the use [Page 407] of armed force. There should be no place for resort to arms in an orderly and prosperous world.
In the Far East probably to a greater extent than in any other part of the world there are taking place great changes in the thought and the activities of vast groups of human beings. Within a few generations, Japan has undergone a great transformation, and both Occident and Orient have witnessed and been impressed by admirable achievements effected by the Japanese people. At the Washington Conference, the governments there represented, after careful consideration of the situation in the Far East, adopted the view that the Chinese people possessed the capacity to establish a new order. The Nine Power Treaty was based on that concept. In agreeing to its provisions, the governments which became parties to that treaty affirmed their belief in the capacity of the Chinese to evolve and carry out a program of political and economic reconstruction. The signatories to the treaty undertook to regulate their relations with China and with one another in a manner which would not interfere with this hoped-for development but would indeed encourage and support it. During the years which have since elapsed, especially the more recent years, the Chinese have made rapid progress along a course which tends to confirm the faith on which the Nine Power Treaty was founded.
Unfortunately, Japan and China have come into conflict and have resorted to hostilities. These hostilities have steadily increased in scope and intensity. Not only have they destroyed many Chinese and Japanese lives and much Chinese and Japanese property, but they have at some places taken and at many places endangered lives of nationals of other countries; they have destroyed property of nationals of other countries; they have disrupted communications; they have disturbed and interfered with the commerce of practically all nations that are engaged in international trade; and they have shocked and aroused the peoples of all nations. Such hostilities are of concern not only to the countries engaged in them; they have affected and they are detrimentally affecting the whole world.
We are here with a common concern and a common purpose, and our effort to deal with the situation must be constructive.
We come to this Conference to study with our colleagues the problems which concern us. We have come not with the expectation of working miracles but with the intention of appealing to reason. We expect to join with other nations in urging upon Japan and China that they resort to peaceful processes. We believe that cooperation between Japan and China is essential to the best interests of those two countries and to peace throughout the world. We believe that such cooperation must be developed by friendship, fair play, and reciprocal confidence. If Japan and China are to cooperate it must be as friends and as equals and not as enemies. The problems underlying Sino-Japanese relations [Page 408] must be solved on a basis that is fair to each and acceptable to both. It is not only in the interests of China and Japan that hostilities be promptly terminated and that the differences between them be peacefully composed, but it is in the interest of the community of nations as a whole. The longer the present hostilities continue the more difficult will a constructive solution become, the more harmful will be their effects upon Sino-Japanese relations and upon the world, and the more will general peace and stability be endangered. It is important that equitable adjustment be found.
We come to this Conference with no commitments except those to treaty provisions and to principles which the Government of the United States has repeatedly and emphatically affirmed. The Government of the United States is prepared to share in the common efforts to devise, within the scope of these treaty provisions and principles, a means of finding a pacific solution which will provide for terminating hostilities in the Far East and for restoring peace in that area.
- Reprinted from Department of State, Press Releases, November 6, 1937 (vol. xvii, No. 423), p. 352.↩