793.94/16329: Telegram
The Chargé in the United Kingdom (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
[Received 9 p.m.]
3833 [3834]. Mr. R. A. Butler56 sent for me yesterday afternoon to make certain remarks, he said, about the Far Eastern situation. While the Government is not unduly alarmed by present trends, movements are taking place, the purpose of which is obscure, and may mean trouble. He mentioned first that there is a large scale evacuation of Japanese troops from southern China to Hainan, said ostensibly to be for the purpose of recuperation of exhausted men. This is doubtless true, he thinks, to some extent, but recuperation of tired bodies of troops does not take a long time under rest conditions and the number of troops now concentrating in Hainan are sufficient to give rise to the suspicion that they are being concentrated there for some other move. At the same time, Japanese naval vessels are definitely pointing their noses southward and there is a continuous passage of these ships around Saigon and beyond, making reconnaissances. The Japanese have already completely occupied Tongking and they may be planning to extend the occupation to Cambodia and Cochin China, with consequent increase of the menace to British Malaya.
While the direction the Japanese may thrust can only be conjectured, Mr. Butler said they are inclined to think here it is more likely to be toward Borneo, with a view to seizing the oil wells, than toward the [Page 219] Straits. The possibility of an attack on Malaya, both by land and by sea, is not however to be entirely discounted and it is planned to reinforce the British troops already there with contingents of Australian and New Zealand soldiers.
The position of Thailand in connection with the defense of Malaya is, of course, of vital importance and presents for the British a delicate situation. He said that he had denied 2 days ago to the Japanese Ambassador that there was any truth in the reply [report?] of a tripartite agreement between Great Britain, the United States, and Thailand. The British Minister at Bangkok is doing what he can to discourage any attempt to make and enforce at this time any territorial demands on Indochina. They are watching for signs in any quarter of resistance in Indochina to Japanese domination and want to encourage it, including any encouragement they can give to the Vichy Government to stiffen its attitude to Japanese demands. He admitted that they have very small leverage for accomplishing anything in this direction. They are not attempting to encourage any de Gaulle57 movement in Indochina although there are de Gaulle sympathizers in the colony who are in touch with leaders outside. To strike the balance between Thailand ambitions and stiffening, if they can, Indochina resistance is a ticklish job.
The Japanese are bombing the Burma Road and some bombs have fallen in Burma itself. The British are trying to put the best face they can on it and to act as though nothing had taken place.
Butler said the Foreign Office had sent to the Department through the British Embassy at Washington an outline of the plans of the Government to put economic pressure on Japan.58 They are not planning to do anything spectacular, but what will be done, he hopes will be done thoroughly with all the Dominion Governments, India and the Colonial administrations cooperating so that the screws can be put on all exports to the Japanese at any point necessary. India, he said, had already put a ban on the export of scrap iron to Japan.
The Undersecretary reiterated two or three times that they are not alarmed about the present situation but that they felt it had dangerous possibilities; any move the Japanese may make south against Malaya would necessarily entail immediate British action and he remarked that if Borneo were the objective, it would put both Great Britain and the United States on the spot.
They are [facing?] insistent demands on all branches of the British armed forces now for ships, aircraft material and troops. It is obvious, [Page 220] therefore, that the Government is nervous lest dynamite go off in the Far East and they be faced with the necessity for an immediate effort which will call for the diversion of men, ships, aircraft and material that cannot be spared from the tremendous job they have on their hands at home.
In connection with economic pressure on Japan, Butler said that they are in close consultation with the Dutch. Although they do not like the recent agreement for the sale of Dutch oil to Japan, he seemed to place some confidence in Dutch toughness and what, he said, was their extraordinary skill in dealing and negotiating with the Japanese. He did not give any details of the practical way in which they expected the Dutch East Indies Government to cooperate in this field.