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Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs (Adams)
The Thai Minister6 called upon his own initiative.
He said that some time ago Mr. Hamilton had told him that when he had any question to ask in regard to matters affecting Thailand he should not hesitate to call and ask questions which he had in mind. [Page 670] He said that he was taking advantage of Mr. Hamilton’s kindness this morning.
Mr. Smyth7 and Mr. Adams told the Thai Minister that Mr. Hamilton was in conference and regretted that he himself could not talk with the Thai Minister.
The Thai Minister asked whether the following short two-sentence paragraph appearing in The New York Times was accurate:
“The State Department said:
‘The Japanese representatives were handed for their consideration a document that is the culmination of conferences back and forth during recent weeks. It is unnecessary to repeat what has been said so often in the past that it rests on certain basic principles with which the correspondents should be entirely familiar in the light of many repetitions.’ ”
Mr. Adams replied that he understood that the statement was substantially accurate. The Thai Minister asked whether the last sentence might be interpreted to mean that the United States insisted that the Japanese evacuate both French Indochina and China.
Mr. Adams replied that he had no information or authority which would enable him to be specific in his reply to the Thai Minister’s question. Mr. Adams said, however, that the President and the Secretary of State had on many occasions outlined the attitude of this Government toward acquisitions of territory by force. Mr. Adams said that there had been no change in this Government’s attitude in that respect.
The Thai Minister thanked Mr. Smyth and Mr. Adams for the information which they had given him. He added that naturally his Government was vitally interested in the subject matter of the statement and that he wished to keep his Government informed.