893.01/6121: Telegram
The Counselor of Embassy in China (Peek) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 29—7:58 a.m.]
52. The French Ambassador in two recent conversations has informed me that he thought the Wang Ching-wei puppet central government would be set up within a few weeks.
He believed that its creation would not change the situation anywhere but on the coast and at Hankow; he felt that the so-called government with Japanese backing would make demands that would involve France in serious difficulties in connection with the French Concessions at Tientsin and Hankow; also that he had frankly stated [Page 281] to the Chinese authorities that the policy of his Government with respect to the Chinese Government was absolutely unchanged but that if military threats were made against Indochina to obstruct transportation France could not send armed forces and would be obliged to take notice of Japanese demands.
I have received the impression from observations like that of the French Ambassador and from indications of British interpretation of Japanese pressure at Tientsin that while both nationalities are sympathetic with American policy as exemplified by the denunciation of the 1911 treaty they feel that in regard to immediate pressure from Japan their Far Eastern possessions make their position far more vulnerable than is that of the United States.
Repeated to Shanghai, Hankow, Peiping, latter please mail to Tokyo.