740.0011 Pacific War/3549
Document Prepared in the Division of Far Eastern Affairs89
Japan–Wang Regime “Pact of Alliance” of October 30, 1943
The “Pact of Alliance” which was signed by Japan and the Wang regime on October 30 provides in part that the “treaty” of November 30, 194090 “together with all instruments annexed thereto” is terminated. A comparison of the texts of the new “pact” and the “treaty” of 1940 suggests that the new “pact” represents a gesture on Japan’s part toward the Wang regime and also possibly toward the U. S. S. R.
In comparison with the “treaty”, the “pact” shows a far greater effort on Japan’s part to appeal to Chinese good-will. In the phrasing of the “pact” there is an emphasis on the apparent equality between the two parties, all the commitments being assumed by “Japan and China”. A protocol accompanying the “pact” contains on Japan’s part a commitment to withdraw Japanese forces from China “when general peace between the two countries is restored and a state of war ceases to exist.” Japan also renounces the right of stationing troops under the Boxer Protocol.91 On the surface these commitments with regard to the withdrawal of Japanese troops go much farther than the commitments contained in the 1940 “treaty”. (The 1940 “treaty” contained provision for the indefinite stationing of Japanese forces in certain parts of China and for the gradual withdrawal of the remainder over a period of two years after the restoration of peace between the two countries.) At the same time the “pact” as a whole is phrased in very general terms and provision is [Page 158] made that the necessary details for carrying out the “Pact” are to be decided upon subsequently. The door is thus left open for the obtaining by Japan of any concessions which it may desire from “China.”
The absence of any mention in the new “pact” of anti-Communism—a subject which held a prominent place in the “treaty” of 1940 and which has long been stressed by Japan as one of the ideological bonds linking Japan and the Wang regime—is notable. This omission may indicate a gesture on Japan’s part toward the U. S. S. R. It certainly shows a determination on Japan’s part not to give offense to the U. S. S. R. at this time.
- In a memorandum of November 8 the Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs (Ballantine) addressed this document to the Adviser on Political Relations (Hornbeck), the Assistant Secretary of State (Long), the Assistant Secretary of State (Berle), and the Under Secretary of State (Stettinius).↩
- Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941, vol. ii, p. 117.↩
- Signed at Peking, September 7, 1901, Foreign Relations, 1901, Appendix, (Affairs in China), p. 312.↩