893.00/12281
Memorandum by the Military Attaché in China (Drysdale)81
With respect to reports that at a recent meeting of the Plenary session a resolution was passed authorizing the employment of Chinese Government troops in Jehol Province, Government assistance to the “Volunteers” in Manchuria and Government direction to the boycott of “enemy goods”, the following is submitted:
Late in the afternoon of December 19th, during a private conversation, I asked Mr. T. V. Soong if the newspaper report that a resolution advocating Government direction of the anti-Japanese boycott had been passed was correct. Mr. Soong replied that such a resolution, if passed, would certainly result in Japan declaring war, that China was not at present prepared for war, and that as the result of a successful war Japan might demand and actually acquire Manchuria. His reply made the impression that such a resolution had been proposed and debated, that he personally had opposed the resolution, and that the resolution had failed to pass.
During the evening of December 19, while in a private conversation with Dr. C. C. Wu, I questioned Dr. Wu concerning the authenticity of a press report that a resolution authorizing Government direction to the anti-Japanese boycott had been passed. Dr. Wu, usually extremely uncommunicative, replied that he had sponsored such a resolution, but he evaded a direct answer as to whether such a resolution had been passed.
My conclusions are that a resolution authorizing Government direction to the boycott, Government support to the volunteer activities, and the employment of Government troops in the province of Jehol, was in fact admitted in debate at the Plenary Session and voted upon during December 19, that during the debate Mr. T. V. Soong opposed the resolution and that Dr. C. C. Wu and numerous of his supporters advocated its passage.
I am of the opinion that the resolution as originally proposed failed to pass, but that there will be, or might already have been, efforts made to modify the original resolution, so as to make it less likely to cause a declaration of war by Japan, and that some resolution, so modified, either has been or is likely to be passed, with instructions that its passage be kept secret.
There is no doubt that there is strong and active support among the members of the present session, for the passage of some resolution [Page 451] making more drastic China’s direct opposition to Japan’s policy in Manchuria.
- Copy transmitted to the Department as an enclosure to despatch No. L–434, December 21, from the Consul General at Nanking; received January 30, 1933.↩