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The Minister in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 20.]
Sir: I have the honor to summarize comments made March 21, 1935, to a member of the Legation by a Japanese civilian (Mr. M. Yamakami, General Manager of the Peiping and Tientsin offices of the Rengo News Agency) with regard to the reported negotiations looking toward “collaboration” between China and Japan. Mr. Yamakami has close association with Japanese military officers.
Mr. Yamakami stated that the opinion of the Japanese military is not unified with regard to the Chinese policy of Mr. Hirota, the Japanese Foreign Minister. He amplified this statement by explaining that the so-called Central Group in the Japanese Army, of which the leader is General Hayashi, Minister of War, doubts the efficacy of the policy because it suspects that Chinese leaders will not actually entertain sincerely friendly feelings for Japan; that the so-called Left Group, headed by General Araki, former Minister of War, is opposed to the policy; and that the so-called Right Group, which is led by General Ugaki, Governor-General of Korea, and which is supported by Osaka capitalists, approves of the policy. (From what Mr. Yamakami [Page 101] said, it would seem that there is not very much difference between the Hayashi and the Araki groups and that the Kwantung Army in some aspects belongs to the one and in some aspects to the other.) Mr. Yamakami said that, as a result of the skepticism of the Hayashi group, General Isogai is being sent to China to replace General Suzuki as Military Attaché in order that he may watch those Japanese charged with the promotion of the Hirota policy and that other officers are being sent to China for the same purpose. He referred to General Isogai and these other officers as “Doihara men”.
In speaking of the desires of the Japanese military with respect to China, Mr. Yamakami said that the military wants agreements of a strategic character in preparation for war with Russia, wants Japanese military officers to be attached to the National Government, and, in short, wants the Chinese military to become subservient to the Japanese military. He expressed the opinion, however, that the Kwantung Army would not engage in military activities in the near future, saying that all representatives of that army who visit Peiping insist that their slogan now is “Manchukuo first”, meaning that they must devote their efforts toward consolidating the position of “Manchukuo”.
Mr. Yamakami stated that he believes the prestige of the military is declining somewhat in Japan. This did not seem to give him cause for optimism, however, as he expressed the belief that, if the decline becomes too serious, the Japanese military will seize upon some serious blunder committed by those promoting the Hirota policy to give them a pretext to establish a military government at Tokyo.
Respectfully yours,