793.94/3186
Memorandum by the Secretary of State
I sent for the Japanese Ambassador, and when he came I reminded him of his conference with me on November 28th when he had brought me the Wellington Koo proposal and the Japanese acceptance.78a I told him that I had been looking into the misunderstandings that had arisen about that matter. Then I explained to him at length my investigations yesterday and the reports which I had received which had led me to believe (1) that Mr. Koo had not intended to make a firm proposal but merely to sound out Japan, (2) that his proposal, such as it was, had not been accepted literally or in terms by Baron Shidehara, although I believed that Shidehara had intended to give sufficient assurance to justify careful consideration of his acceptance by China, and (3) that there had been possibly a misunderstanding by the Council of Mr. Yoshizawa’s definition of the neutral zone, on December 7th, extending to the Hsiaoling-Ho River, and that they very possibly did not realize that Japan made that limitation based upon [Page 59] the Wellington Koo offer, but thought instead that Japan was herself inching up on the original situation. I told him that I had desired to make sure that no misunderstanding, which could be avoided, would arise which would lead to a renewal of hostilities, and that I had telephoned to General Dawes last night on the subject and had heard from him this morning; that he had taken it up with Mr. Sze,79 Mr. Matsudaira, Mr. Briand and probably others and there seemed some reason to believe that there had been a misunderstanding and that possibly a fresh start could be made, but that I was not at all sure as the Council was very anxious to adjourn tonight. I made it clear, however, to Mr. Debuchi that although I was taking these steps to see whether there was any possible way of avoiding hostilities, it had not at all changed my viewpoint that in case General Honjo’s army should now move forward again against the Chinese forces around Chinchow it would be an entirely unjustified act of aggression. I explained to him that I now had very full and accurate reports, not only from our own Military Attachés, Colonel McIlroy and Colonel Margetts, who were now at Chinchow, but I also had the benefit of the reports of the other foreign observers, and these reports all agreed that there was no aggressive movement under preparation near Chinchow by the Chinese. To illustrate the accuracy of my reports, I pointed out that the Japanese headquarters at Mukden had reported the Chinese 20th Brigade as being at Faku (northeast of Mukden), and I now had reports from our military observers that they had personally inspected the 20th Brigade and that it was in its usual quarters at Chinchow, they having verified the presence of all units. I asked the Ambassador to report all this to Baron Shidehara and he said he would.