Office of the Historian

793.94/8346

The Ambassador in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State

No. 778
Peiping, October 15, 1936.
[Received November 16.]

Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith a copy of despatch No. 66 of October 9, 1936, from the Consulate at Tsinan36 in which Consul Allison reports the opinion of the Secretary of the German Embassy in Tokyo to the effect that Japan is not ready to engage in war at this time for the following reasons:

1.
The economic and financial situation in Japan is extremely serious.
2.
The Japanese Army is not in sufficiently good condition.
3.
Japan has no international agreements which would be of assistance in case of war.

Respectfully yours,

For the Ambassador:
George R. Merrell, Jr.

First Secretary of Embassy
  1. Not printed.↩