THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT
FAR EASTERN (JAPAN)
CONFIDENTIAL
228
January 26, 1939.
SECTION 6.
[F 874/874/23]
Copy No.
Sir R. Craigie to Viscount Halifax.—(Received January 26, 1939.) (No. 1063.)
HIS Majesty's representative at Tokyo presents his compliments to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and, with reference to Tokyo despatch No. 976 of the 2nd December, 1938, has the honour to transmit to him a copy of Political Diary No. 12 of 1938 for the period the 1st to the 31st December.
Tokyo, December 30, 1938.
Enclosure.
Political Diary No. 12 of 1938.
December 1 to 31.
(This diary is a brief and informal review of current topics. Although it is largely based on extracts from the Japanese press and is not in the nature of a considered report, the diary should be treated as confidential and should not be publicly quoted or reproduced.)
FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
Anglo-Japanese and American-Japanese Relations.
361. The Japanese replies to the American note on American interests in China and to the British, American and French notes on the Yangtze (see last diary) were completely unacceptable to the Governments concerned, and it has long been evident that the Japanese assurances about the rights of third Powers in China, assurances which they have given so readily, have little meaning. The Americans, in consequence, suddenly announced that they had made a credit of 25 million dollars available to finance exports from the United States to China and imports of wood oil from China to the United States, and this was followed by reports that Great Britain was taking measures to make certain credits available under the Export Credits Bill to assist British trade in south-west China.
362. The Japanese were a little taken aback. America appeared to have taken the lead in this matter. There had been much talk of economic reprisals, but few Japanese thought that they would ever be put into practice. Thus the press was restrained and there was no popular outcry such as would have been raised had Britain acted alone. The two foreign Governments were urged to reconsider" their attitude and reprimanded somewhat leniently for thus trying to prolong the strugle unnecessarily.
363. The immediate effect of this pressure seems to be salutary. The Soviet Government, too, have chosen this moment to take up a firm stand on the fisheries question. Whether this pressure will have the desired effect or whether it will tend to stiffen the Japanese attitude remains to be seen. The Japanese look back and see how sanctions failed against Italy. They no longer take British threats very seriously and they are fully aware of the difficulties of Anglo-American co-operation. They take a war-time, and therefore not a rational, view.
Debate in the House of Lords.
364. The debate in the House of Lords on the 6th December received much publicity in the Japanese press. The Earl of Plymouth stated that Britain would refuse to accept any unilateral infringement of the Nine-Power Treaty, such as the creation of a three-Power bloc. Britain, he said, was doing all it could to protect its rights in the Far East.
[508 cc-6]
B
131