761.94/1251: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received 8:55 p.m.]
1788. My 1786, December 27, 4 p.m. While it would appear from the information given me by the Japanese Ambassador that Japanese-Soviet political agreement is not imminent due to the refusal up to the present time of the Japanese Government to accept the Soviet conditions, nevertheless the apparent willingness of the Soviet Government to conclude a long term fisheries agreement to replace the annual modus vivendi, as well as the attitude of the Soviet press, impels me to the conclusion that the Soviet Government is still willing and even desirous of reaching a political agreement but only on its own terms.
Whether or not at some time in the future an agreement is reached, the mere fact that the Soviet Government has on certain conditions shown a disposition to conclude a political agreement with Japan is in itself an important indication of general Soviet policy. I am of the opinion that the Soviet Government has sought and is seeking to exploit, for its own immediate self interest, as a means of exacting a higher price from Japan, the present situation in the Far East and in particular the existing tension between the United States and Japan.
I feel strongly that this aspect of Soviet policy in the Far East should be borne in mind in considering the dubious possibility of any cooperation between the Soviet Union and ourselves in the Far East, since the possibility and the probability cannot be excluded that in the event of a continued refusal by the Japanese Government to accede to the Soviet conditions, the Soviet Government will attempt to create the impression of increasing collaboration with the United States in the Far East solely for the purpose of endeavoring to force accept its terms. In this connection I invite the Department’s attention to the similarity of present Soviet aims and tactics in the Far East to those which it has thus far successfully pursued in relation to western Europe and the European war, with Japan in Soviet eyes playing the part of Germany and the United States and Britain in the Far East the role of France and Britain in Europe.