711.94/2088
The British Ambassador (Halifax) to the Secretary of State
Dear Mr. Hull: Thinking over our conversation this morning I was not quite sure whether I placed quite sufficient emphasis on what I have no doubt would be the strong feeling of His Majesty’s Government in regard to the question of numbers of Japanese troops in Indo China.
I recognise, as you know, to the full your difficulty about total withdrawal, and I also appreciate that it is your wish as much as that of anybody else to keep the numbers as low as possible. I have little doubt that it would be the feeling of my Government that, subject to your fuller knowledge and judgment, it would be wise to start the discussion on as low a figure as possible, and that 25,000 would strike them as an undesirably high figure at which to start discussion.
I have telegraphed to Eden of your proposed addition on this subject in the sense of reserving the position of the United States as to the Japanese right to have any troops in Indo China at all.
Yours very sincerely,