811.20 Defense (M)/2817: Telegram
The Consul at Hanoi (Reed) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 2—10:29 a.m.]
112. In conversation yesterday the Governor General expressed the hope that economic relations between the United States and Indochina might be maintained, mentioning specifically his desire that the contract for 10,000 tons of rubber be completed as soon as possible. In reply to my question, he expressed his belief that the Japanese would not interfere with the delivery of this rubber to the United States. He also expressed the hope that some arrangement might be made to supply Indochina with petroleum products. Throughout the conversation the Governor General was extremely [Page 246] anti-British, his remarks duplicating the previously reported anti-British campaign in the press. He expressed the view that the British military preparations in Malaya and the British “intrigue” in Thailand had made Japan apprehensive and that this apprehension had caused Japanese to demand the bases in southern Indochina. He was, as he has been in the past, entirely optimistic as to the Japanese respect of French sovereignty in Indochina.
Sent to Cavite for repetition to the Department, Chungking, Peiping, Hong Kong, Shanghai. Shanghai please repeat to Tokyo.