793.94/7858
The Ambassador in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 20.]
Sir: I have the honor to enclose copies of ten memoranda19 of conversations which I had during February at Nanking with various officials on the subject of Sino-Japanese relations and to summarize them below.
Dr. Lo Wen-kan, former Minister of Justice, indicated that he expects an outbreak of hostilities between Japan and China. Dr. C. T. Wang, former Minister for Foreign Affairs, stated that China is concentrating its forces for a conflict which seems inevitable. Mr. Hallett Abend, correspondent for the New York Times, informed me that Mr. Y. Suma, Japanese Consul General at Nanking, had told him that the Japanese Government was much concerned over the quantity of arms which China had been purchasing and which were a waste of money as the Japanese army could crush China in two months. The German Ambassador, Mr. Oscar Trautmann, expressed the opinion that in intellectual and military Chinese circles there was an increasing belief in the inevitability of a Sino-Japanese war, although he was not certain with regard to the attitude of General Chiang Kai-shek in this respect.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, General Chang Ch’un, in the course of conversations with me on February 13 and 14 stated that he was prepared to discuss all phases of Sino-Japanese relations with the Japanese, that it was difficult to know who was speaking for Japan, and that, although the Japanese military dictate the policies of the Japanese Government, they are divided among themselves. He expressed the opinion that the Japanese were somewhat hesitant about going ahead (in China) in view of the present uncertainty in the world situation.
[Page 89]With regard to the rebellion of February 26 in Tokyo, General Chiang Tso-pin, the Minister of the Interior, General Yu Fei-peng, the Acting Minister of Communications, and Mr. Wu Ting-ch’ang, the Minister of Industry, expressed the belief that there will be further trouble in Japan as a result of divergence of opinion among Japanese. The Soviet Ambassador, Mr. Dimitri Bogomoloff, stated that he believed the rebellion would result in increased control of the Japanese Government by the military and would bring inflation, increased foreign trade, and greater expenditure for the military who would continue to go ahead in China but who would not dare to attack Soviet Russia because the border defenses of the latter were too strong for Japan to penetrate without great cost in material and men.
Respectfully yours,
- None printed.↩