793.94Commission/398: Telegram
The Ambassador in Japan (Grew) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 3—7:10 a.m.]
249. 1. The report of the League of Nations Commission22 has been received in Japan with the expected repercussion. The Foreign Office spokesman declares that the report favors China and is unfair [Page 104] to Japan. Certain parts are declared to be sound, but the findings and recommendations in regard to Manchuria are held impossible for Japan to accept.
2. The War Office professes indignation at the unfairness of the report; particularly at denial of the Japanese plea of self-defense and at the statement that the existence of the new state is due to the connivance of the Japanese Army.
3. The press takes its cue from the Foreign Office. The Committee is criticised as biased and ignorant of facts; the report for ignoring the actual state of affairs; the proposals and recommendations as impractical and untenable by Japan. Press urges the Government to carry out its own solution of the Manchurian question. It declares the report will simply aggravate, instead of solving, the situation, and that the labors of the Commission have been useless. It states that if the report had been issued earlier the recommendations might have been of use, but at the present time with a new government established and formally recognized, no practical result can be obtained.
4. Other comments range from mild criticism to harsh abuse. The Minseito23 has issued a statement condemning the report and advising the Government to ignore the recommendations.
Repeated to Peiping.