793.94 Conference/165: Telegram
The Ambassador in Japan (Grew) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 2—11 a.m.]
515. 1. Supplementing our 511, November 2, 5 p.m., the Asahi in its late afternoon edition carried a despatch from New York under the following headlines.
“Great Britain and United States try to shift responsibility for Nine Power Conference to each other; United States dissatisfaction over Eden’s speech; United States shocked.”
Summarized translation of despatch follows:
“Mr. Eden’s statement has created a sensation in the United Kingdom. The State Department maintains official silence. It has been suggested, however, that the statement pours cold water on the Conference—possibility of the United States taking the leadership which Mr. Eden so much desires has on the contrary been lessened. Anglo-American cooperation is believed in diplomatic circles to have been much weakened by the statement. It is also thought that the statement will encourage Japan to greater activities in the Far East while Italy and Germany will find it easier to give effect to selfish policies in the West. Dissatisfaction is expressed along the following lines: (a) It was Great Britain and not the United States which took the initiative in calling the Conference; the statement of Mr. Eden’s is clearly an attempt to shift the responsibility onto the United States. (b) The United States is attending the Conference to discuss the Far Eastern situation and it is not ‘playing the game’ for England to exploit the Brussels Conference to examine European problems.”
2. The Embassy has as yet received from the Department no information on this subject.