Office of the Historian

741.61/655: Telegram

The Chargé in Japan (Dooman) to the Secretary of State

Tokyo, May 31, 1939—6 p.m.
[Received May 31—9:46 a.m.]

250. Our 247, May 29, 1 p.m.49

1.
In conversation today with the Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs,50 I asked informally and as on my own initiative whether the press reports outlined in our telegram under reference were correct. I said that I based my inquiry on an assumption that my Government, having before it the message from the Prime Minister communicated through Mr. Grew,51 would be interested in information bearing on the attitude of Japan toward the Anglo-Soviet negotiations.
2.
The Vice Minister replied that the press report was not correct, for the reason that no formal representations had been made by the Japanese Ambassadors at Moscow and London. He added, however, that the Minister for Foreign Affairs had on several occasions made it clear to the British Ambassador in Tokyo that Japan could not be indifferent to the negotiations, which were being closely watched, and might perhaps be obliged to review its position vis-à-vis Europe; that the Japanese Ambassadors at Moscow and London had been informed of the conversations in Tokyo; and that these Ambassadors had talked to Molotov52 and Halifax respectively along the above lines.
3.
Sawada added that any agreement which strengthened the position in Europe of the Soviet Union would automatically strengthen its position in the Far East; that the conclusion of the Franco-Soviet Military Pact in 193553 had been immediately reflected in a more aggressive [Page 43] attitude on the part of the Soviet Union against Japan; and that therefore the successful conclusion of the present Anglo-Soviet negotiations would be a matter of concern to Japan.
4.
I made no comment, but emphasized that my inquiry was informal.

Cipher text by air mail to Shanghai for repetition to Ambassador Johnson and Peiping.

Dooman
  1. Not printed; it reported alleged representations by Japan regarding Anglo-Soviet negotiations (741.61/650).↩
  2. Renzo Sawada.↩
  3. See telegram No. 234, May 18, 5 p.m., from the Ambassador in Japan, Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941, vol. ii, p. 1.↩
  4. V. M. Molotov, President of the Soviet Council of People’s Commissars (Premier).↩
  5. Signed at Paris, May 2, 1935, League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. clxvii, p. 395.↩