793.94 Conference/89: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in France (Bullitt)
549. For Mr. Norman Davis. When we received from Grew a report under date October 22 that, so far as the Japanese Foreign Office was concerned, decision had been definitely taken to decline the invitation to the Brussels Conference and that an official of the [Page 109] Japanese Foreign Office had commented to Dooman that a favorable reply could not be expected inasmuch as the invitation did not specify that the Conference does not arise out of the League Resolution and the American Government’s announcement of October 6, the matter was discussed with the President. The President suggested that immediately upon convening of the Conference, the Conference should proceed at once toward clarifying the two points mentioned by the official of the Japanese Foreign Office and that on the basis of this clarification the Conference should extend a further invitation to Japan.
The calling of the Conference does not in any way arise out of the statement made by the Secretary of State on October 6. While the Resolution and the two reports adopted by the Assembly of the League on October 6 suggested that there be a meeting of parties to the Nine Power Treaty, the action taken by the Belgian Government in issuing invitations to the Brussels Conference may, in our opinion, reasonably be construed and the United States has so construed it as action independent of the League Resolution of October 6. You will of course recall that the invitation extended by the Belgian Government makes no reference to the League of Nations or to any resolution or action of the League of Nations. If it is felt that Japan’s preoccupation is that the Brussels Conference is called for the purpose of reaffirming the statements made on October 6 by the League and by the Secretary of State that the action of Japan in China is contrary to the provisions of the Nine Power Treaty and the Pact of Paris, the purpose of the Conference is set forth clearly in the Belgian Government’s invitation to meet at Brussels “to examine the situation in the Far East and to study peaceable means of hastening the end of the regrettable conflict which prevails there” and in the statement made by the President at Hyde Park on October 19.
We realize that, in the event that Japan declines the invitation already extended, the question of the advisability of the Conference taking any action toward extending a further invitation to Japan as well as the basis on which any such invitation might be formulated will depend somewhat upon the nature of the reply made by the Japanese Government. When the reply of the Japanese Government is received and in the light of that reply, the Department desires that you give consideration to the question of proceeding along the lines indicated in this telegram.