711.94/1120
Memorandum by the Ambassador in Japan (Grew)88
In taking leave this morning of the Foreign Minister I told Mr. Arita that I was going to the United States only for a short leave of absence for the primary purpose of attending the Harvard Tercentenary Celebration where I was happy to say that honorary degrees were to be presented to certain Japanese scholars and that the trip would of course give me a valuable opportunity for personal contacts again with the President and the Secretary of State. I asked the Minister if he had any particular thoughts which he would like to have conveyed to the authorities in Washington.
Soviet Russia
The Minister immediately began to talk about Soviet Russia and asked me whether I felt any anxiety with regard to a possible conflict between the two countries. I said that although I had felt some anxiety two years ago, I had recently believed and had so reported to my Government that the situation had improved and that in spite of frequent incidents on the frontier I did not believe that they would lead to conflict. Mr. Arita said that this diagnosis was correct. When he had returned to Tokyo as Foreign Minister he himself had [Page 274] felt some anxiety on the basis of reports circulated abroad and he had at once investigated the situation and had found that there was no possibility of Japanese aggression (obviously Mr. Arita was speaking of the Japanese army). He said “we are modernizing our army” and he added that the intention was to strengthen the Japanese forces in Manchuria until they approximated the strength of the Soviet forces in Siberia amounting to some 220,000 to 230,000 men.
The Minister then turned to the question of the demarcation of the frontier and said that definite progress was being made to set up a commission for that purpose. In fact he had negotiated with the Soviet Ambassador on this subject only yesterday afternoon and would continue the negotiations this morning. He said it was not intended that this commission would cover the whole frontier but only the eastern portion from Lake Khanka to the Tumen River because this was the district where incidents most frequently occurred. The commission would have charge not only of demarcating the frontier but also of settling such incidents as might arise from time to time. The number of members of the commission was not yet settled.
The Minister said that I might therefore report in Washington that Soviet-Japanese relations were at present quiet and that no intention of aggression existed, so far as he was aware, on either side. The activities of the Comintern were quite a different matter and the Japanese Government was greatly exercised in combating communistic propaganda and the spread of bolshevism in Manchuria and China.
China
The Minister then on an inquiry from myself turned to Japanese relations with China, and said that while every effort was being made by the Japanese Government to improve them, it was feared that a settlement of conditions could be reached but slowly. He said he hoped that something could be accomplished if Wang Ko-min could go to Peiping as a mediator between Nanking and Hopei. The Chahar-Hopei regime was being given no financial subsidies from Nanking and it was hoped that some kind of understanding along these lines could be reached. Mr. Arita believed that the smuggling situation was improving but he did not comment upon it in detail. I told Mr. Arita that the Prime Minister when I took leave of him yesterday had said that he was no longer Foreign Minister but he could nevertheless give me explicit assurances that American trade and commercial interests would in no way be interfered with by Japanese activities in China and I said that I was very glad to be able to bring these assurances to the attention of my Government. Mr. Arita made no comment.
[Page 275]The United States
I then asked the Minister how he regarded Japanese-American relations at the present time. He said that the Japanese people were thoroughly friendly to the United States and that except for a few minor difficulties he thought that our relations were proceeding very well. Our trade relations were producing some of these difficulties. I talked about the trade policy of our Government and the great pressure under which our Government also labored from various domestic industrial interests. The Minister said he hoped that if Mr. Roosevelt were reelected our Government might find this pressure less impelling. I said that Mr. Hull was doing everything in his power to reduce interference with our trade relations to the least possible degree. I spoke of the general foreign policy of the Administration, especially the good neighbor policy and how it had worked out in practise. Mr. Arita observed that Mr. Roosevelt’s policy seemed to be somewhat different from that of his predecessor.
After an exchange of personal amenities the interview terminated with marked cordiality.
- Copy transmitted to the Department by the Ambassador in Japan in his despatch No. 2005, August 26; received September 21.↩