793.94/8790: Telegram
The Ambassador in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 16—10:20 a.m.]
245. It is understood that in an interview by the New York Times correspondent at Tientsin yesterday with a spokesman of the Japanese Army Headquarters it was disclosed that Japanese Army proposes to control the situation outside the City Walls and thereby compel the reopening of the Peiping city gates so that the Japanese [Page 182] Embassy guard here may be largely reenforced, ostensibly for the protection of Japanese lives and property inside the Tartar Wall. This is the first intimation that has been conveyed that the Japanese might resort to these tactics to compel the opening of the city gates. It will be recalled that several attempts have been made by detachments of Japanese troops to enter Peiping through closed gates but that admittance has been refused by Chinese soldiers on guard. It is significant that every train out of Peiping for the last 3 days has carried large numbers of Japanese nationals composed largely of women and children and Koreans and on the other hand there has been an influx within the past few days of rough-looking Japanese and Korean men. It is correct that the Japanese Embassy guard is now small numerically.
For more of interview please see New York Times, presumably today’s date.
By mail to Nanking, repeated to Tokyo.