711.94/1495: Telegram
The Ambassador in Japan (Grew) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 6—8:37 p.m.]
311. Department’s 142, May 4, 2 p.m. Mr. Sayre, after his talk with the Minister for Foreign Affairs today, submitted to me a memorandum of the conversation which I quote below in full:
“At the conclusion of the luncheon given me by Mr. Arita, the Foreign Minister, today Mr. Arita took me upstairs in order to continue our conversation of last week. Mr. Arita began by saying that he had talked over with the Premier the matter which we had discussed and he then orally gave me the following reply, translating from a Japanese memorandum which he had previously prepared:
‘In view of all the circumstances in connection with the situation and in particular because of our policy of assisting the Wang Ching-wei regime in every possible manner it would not be appropriate for the representatives of the Japanese Government to get into direct negotiations with Chiang Kai-shek at this time. It is desirable therefore, supposing Chiang Kai-shek has the intention of relinquishing his anti-Japanese and pro-communistic policy and of bringing the present hostilities to a stop, that he should get into direct negotiations with Wang Ching-wei. I think there will always be a way open for the Chinese to enter into conversations between themselves (namely between Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Ching-wei). But if Chiang Kai-shek should find it impossible for the present to enter into conversations with Wang Ching-wei, “it would be an idea for him” to enter into negotiations with our military representatives with the object of arranging for the cessation of general fighting.
If Chiang Kai-shek is inclined to do so I shall be ready to arrange to send our military representative to some neutral spot, for example to Hong Kong or Manila, in order to meet in strictest secrecy and in an informal manner Chiang Kai-shek’s representative in order to negotiate concerning the conditions of the cessation of actual fighting. If you (namely Mr. Sayre) propose to offer your good offices to arrange for such a meeting I shall accept with pleasure such a proposal’
Mr. Arita repeated this message a second time so that I could have a chance to write it down as he dictated the rough translation.
I replied to Mr. Arita that I much appreciated this reply. I recalled, however, our conversation last Friday when we agreed that each of us would give the matter further thought and that he would discuss the matter with the Prime Minister and I similarly would discuss the matter with Ambassador Grew. We agreed that we would then exchange at this afternoon’s meeting the conclusions thus reached. In pursuance of this arrangement I said that I had talked the whole matter over with Ambassador Grew to whom I had reported all of our conversations. I said that Ambassador Grew and I after giving considerable thought to the situation had independently reached the same conclusions. I reminded Mr. Arita that the whole purpose of such a preliminary exploratory conference as proposed would be [Page 329] defeated if there were any leaks; and I said that both Ambassador Grew and I felt that for an official of a third government to participate in any way in the arrangement of such a meeting would unduly increase the danger of leaks and that it therefore seemed wise to each of us that no American Government official should participate in any way in arranging for such a meeting.
I also reminded Mr. Arita of his statement at our last meeting that in his judgment the chances for reaching a reconciliation at this time are extremely small; and I said that I had been thinking over this statement of his and in view of it I could not but wonder whether the time was yet ripe for such a meeting. I also spoke of the danger to himself and to the Japanese Government as well as to the American Government if any leaks should occur. In view of all these circumstances I said to him that I feel sure that if the Japanese Government deigns to enter into such preliminary secret exploratory conversations with a representative of Chiang Kai-shek the Japanese Government did not lack the means of arranging for such a conference and that I felt that at least at this time it would not serve any useful purpose for an official of the American Government to participate in arranging for such a meeting. Mr. Arita then said that under these circumstances it would be better for him to withdraw the more or less formal reply which he had made and to forget the whole matter. To this I agreed. I added that I would however inform Ambassador Grew of everything so that he could report it to the Department.
I also cautioned Mr. Arita that it might prove highly injurious if any leak should occur as to the topic of our conversation and that I felt that he would agree with me that this should under no circumstances be divulged. He agreed.
We next spoke about the Philippine immigration bill. Mr. Arita said that he had not replied to my explanations of last Wednesday morning because he wanted to study the matter further. He said that now he had done so and that although he recognized that the enactment of the legislation from the technical and legal standpoint was entirely unobjectionable he did feel that it was unfair to the Japanese. When I assured him that the bill was in no way directed against the Japanese and that its terms applied equally to the citizens of every nation and that the object of the legislation is to regularize the whole question of immigration into the Philippines he agreed that the legislation was not discriminatory. He went on to say however that cutting down the number of immigrants each year to 500 would hurt the Japanese and he asserted that the gross annual number of Japanese immigrants in to the Philippines was over 2,000. He said that cutting the number from 1,000 to 500 was unfair and injurious. I reminded him again that the original bill as first drafted allowed an annual quota of 1,000 and I told him that the cutting of the quota from 1,000 to 500 was first proposed on the floor of the Commonwealth Assembly and that the cutting of the quota was therefore the action of the Commonwealth authorities over which the United States had no direct control other than through the approval or disapproval by the President of the United States of the Dill in its entirety.
The conversation then passed on to the activities of the Japanese Consul General in Manila. Mr. Arita said that he would not undertake to pass on the actual facts involved in the Consul General’s conduct [Page 330] with regard to the immigration bill but that although he recognized that the Consul General should not enter into conversations with members of the Commonwealth Assembly in order to influence pending legislation he nevertheless asked whether the Consul General might not give facts and statistics to members of the Assembly particularly if he was approached originally by them. I replied that giving facts and statistics was very frequently for the very purpose of influencing legislation and said that a Consul by doing so opened himself to the charge that he is seeking to influence legislation since no one can tell what might be in his mind. After discussing this aspect of the matter, Mr. Arita finally agreed that he would instruct the Japanese Consul General in Manila not to approach members of the Assembly directly with the view of influencing legislation but to come instead to the office of the High Commissioner. I promised him that if the Consul General desired to place facts or statistics before members of the Assembly I should be very happy to assist him and see that such information was transmitted to the Commonwealth Government authorities.
After a cordial exchange of good wishes and farewells the meeting ended.”