793.94/5053a: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Consul at Geneva (Gilbert)
60. For the Secretary. Department’s 145, April 13, 4 p.m. and 146, April 13, 5 p.m.64 to Paris for you. On April 14, the Japanese Ambassador handed to the Under Secretary an undated and unsigned paper bearing a single paragraph, the text of which is identical with that quoted in the fourth paragraph of Minister Johnson’s telegram of April 13, 8 p.m. communicated to you in paragraph 1 of the Department’s 146, April 13, 5 p.m. to Paris.
The Japanese Ambassador, in handing this paper to the Under Secretary, gave the impression but did not state that his Government hoped that pressure would be brought to bear on the Chinese to accept this formula in lieu of an agreed-upon date for withdrawal of Japanese troops. The Under Secretary made no comment.
Reference to previous telegrams discloses that Ministers Johnson and Lampson on April 9 suggested that paragraph as an alternative proposal on the question of the withdrawal of Japanese troops and that it was submitted by the Chinese and Japanese negotiators to their respective Governments. It was to have been discussed at a subsequent meeting of the negotiators on April 11 but this meeting was not held as the Chinese referred the matter to Yen at Geneva and further meetings were adjourned sine die.
It is the surmise of the Department that the Japanese may endeavor at Geneva to enlist support of their position on the basis of this formula; and that you may be solicited in that connection. It is believed that the following points should be considered: (a) this formula is very indefinite and would give the Chinese no assurance; (b) it provides only that at a time to be decided upon by them the Japanese troops will be drawn back within a certain line; (c) it carries no promise whatever regarding withdrawal of Japanese troops from Chinese soil; (d) the Chinese negotiators apparently do not dare sign an agreement which makes no provision for withdrawal of Japanese troops within a fixed time limit. To the Department it seems doubtful [Page 695] whether in these premises it would be advisable for the American Government to bring to bear any new pressure.
- Telegram No. 146 not printed.↩