751G.92/368: Telegram
The Minister in Thailand (Grant) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 19—5:52 p.m.]
166. The recent events which have culminated in the “mediation” award to Thailand by Japan of a large slice of Indochina territory, considerably more than that officially announced by the Thai Government at the beginning of the dispute last August, have confirmed my belief, which has been indicated in previous telegrams, that this country [Page 114] is securely snared in Japan’s trap and that today Thailand is for all practical purposes a party to the Japanese program for East Asia and therefore allied with the Axis against the democracies. If the responsible leaders of this Government have not sold out they are nevertheless pawns in the Japanese game and tomorrow will be the puppets of Japan. If these leaders ever had any real idea of resisting Japan it is too late now. Determination to take advantage of the collapse of France and demand territories in Indochina last August was the first false step. We warned the Thai leaders against it. They turned a deaf ear to our counsel and began to call us “unfriendly” and “unsympathetic”. The acceptance of Japanese “mediation” was the final and fatal step.
The Thai with the material assistance of Japan have achieved a “victory” according to the Thai Prime Minister, but he might have added, only a partial victory, for the Thai are not satisfied. They want more territory and they propose to get it, collaborating with Japan in driving the French completely out. All signs point to that. The “mediation” agreement in Tokyo was only the [first?] step. The next few weeks or perhaps months constitute only an armistice unless by some miracle the Axis and Japan utterly collapse and abandon their program of expansion and control.
There are pretensions being displayed in official quarters here. One is that the Thai fully recognize the Japanese menace and wish to avoid it, as it was stated to me recently by the Prime Minister, as outlined in my telegram no. 119, March 4, 2 p.m. The other is that the Thai are just as friendly with their British, American and other white friends as they have been in the past. Recent events belie both assertions. The Thai under the stimulation of Japanese influence are now race conscious and they are vigorously promoting an all-Buddhist religious program. I am convinced that if they have their way all of us here are on the way out along with the French in Indochina. I believe we should face this fact and begin to prepare for it now.