711.94/21622/14
Informal and Unofficial Oral Statement Handed by the Secretary of State to the Japanese Ambassador (Nomura) on June 6, 1941
From the outset of the informal and exploratory conversations which the Secretary of State and the Japanese Ambassador have had, the Secretary of State has consistently pointed out that if the Government of Japan should decide to adopt courses which are in conformity with principles which the Government of the United States believes constitute the only basis for sound international relations the problem of reaching a satisfactory understanding between the United States and Japan should not present insuperable difficulties.
As these conversations have proceeded the practical application of the principles supported by this Government to the concrete problems which affect the relations of the two countries has been gone into. As the Secretary of State has stressed, the basic problem is to insure peace in the Pacific area. Involved in this are the question of the relations of the United States and Japan to the European war and the question of the Chinese-Japanese conflict. After a careful study of the documents which the Japanese Ambassador handed the Secretary of State on May 12, the Secretary of State offered on May 31 certain suggested revisions designed to make stand out the underlying purpose of the proposed understanding as an instrument of peace. It was his thought that in this way the document would speak for itself, and make it unnecessary for the two Governments to explain to those who might be inclined to be critical what the document was intended to mean.
From such study as it has so far been possible to make of the revisions which the associates of the Japanese Ambassador offered on June 4 [Page 468] it is disappointing to note a vast difference between the proposal as it now stands with these revisions and the original document on which earlier discussions were based. The successive Japanese revisions appear to have gradually narrowed down the extent of the advances in the direction of a liberal policy and to have carried the proposal away from the fundamental points which the Government of the United States considers are involved in establishing and preserving peaceful conditions in the Pacific area. The impression that the Secretary of State derives from the proposed revisions as a whole and from recent manifestations of the Japanese Government’s attitude is that they evince a disposition (1) to stress Japan’s alignment with the Axis, (2) to avoid giving a clear indication of an intention to place Japan’s relations with China on a basis which in the opinion of the Government of the United States would contribute to a lasting peace and thus to future stability in the Far East, and (3) to veer away from clear-cut commitments in regard to policies of peace and of nondiscriminatory treatment which are the fundamentals of a sound basis for peace in the Pacific area. As the Secretary of State has indicated, this Government has not wished to take an initiative in commenting upon the merits of the proposed peace terms between Japan and China; comment has been offered upon this matter because under the proposed understanding this Government would be expected to take some action with regard to those terms.
Referring again expressly to the revisions which the associates of the Japanese Ambassador offered on June 4, the Secretary of State is always ready to consider suggestions as to ways in which ideas may be more accurately and effectively expressed. Before proceeding to further consideration of suggested phraseological changes, however, it would seem important that there be a meeting of minds and mutual understanding of the underlying purposes of the proposed understanding. With this in view, it is suggested that the Japanese Ambassador review the suggestions proposed by the Ambassador’s associates from the point of view which the Secretary of State has endeavored to bring out in the foregoing comments.