701.0090/2536b
The Department of State to the Spanish Embassy
The Department of State acknowledges the receipt of the memorandum no. 293, Ex. 108.03 VI, of October 1, 1943 addressed to it by [Page 940] the Spanish Embassy in charge of Japanese interests in continental United States, transmitting the text of a communication from the Japanese Government in which that Government seeks to justify its action in withholding from the exchange of American and Japanese nationals 15 individuals who should, in accordance with the terms of the exchange agreement, have been repatriated in the current exchange.
The Japanese Government refers to a message addressed by the President of the United States to the President of the United States Senate on September 14, 1943. The Japanese Government states its belief that that message indicates an intention of the United States authorities to exercise unduly discriminatory measures against Japanese nationals in the United States who opt for repatriation to Japan.
The Japanese Government is informed that the policy of segregating in a separate War Relocation Center those persons of Japanese race, whether Japanese or United States citizens, who are loyal to Japan rather than to the United States had not yet been determined upon at the time in 1942 and early 1943 when Japanese nationals in the Relocation Centers were requested to indicate whether or not they wished repatriation. That policy, therefore, had no effect upon the decision to be taken by these individuals. Furthermore, the conditions of the life of evacuees in the segregation Center will in no material sense differ from those in the other Relocation Centers so that there will not be, as the Japanese Government apparently believes, any discrimination as between Japanese nationals.
The Japanese Government should furthermore take note of the fact that numerous Japanese who are interned for the duration of the war and who could have no possible hope of improving their condition by refusing repatriation have nevertheless refused repatriation. Similarly there are some thousands of Japanese in the United States who are neither interned nor in Relocation Centers. The proportion of refusals of repatriation among those of the Japanese at liberty whose repatriation has been requested by the Japanese Government is even higher than among the Japanese who are interned or who are in the Relocation Centers. Communications with these latter Japanese regarding the request for repatriation was exclusively by letter, removing any possibility that pressure could have been exercised upon them. In view of these facts, the United States Government rejects as baseless and without any foundation in fact or logic the assumption of the Japanese Government that any pressure or discrimination existed to influence the decision of any Japanese regarding repatriation.
The Japanese Government may wish to take note that many hundreds of persons being transferred to the segregation center to await repatriation to Japan are persons who have expressed an urgent desire to be repatriated but who have not been designated by the [Page 941] Japanese Government for repatriation. Numerous other Japanese desiring repatriation but not yet designated are in the internment camps in this country and also at liberty.
The Department of State further notes the statement of the Japanese Government that prior to the receipt of the Swiss Legation’s note of September 8 pointing out that certain Japanese who could have been prosecuted for espionage were included in the present exchange of nationals, it had no knowledge that such Japanese were included among the Japanese repatriates. The United States Government is unable to understand this statement of the Japanese Government as it made a declaration of policy in this matter to the Japanese Government in 1942 and referred to that declaration of policy in giving the Swiss Minister at Tokyo the information upon which his note of September 8, 1943 to the Foreign Office57 was based. This declaration of policy was contained in the Department of State’s telegram no. 879, April 7 and no. 1275, May 16, 1942,58 to the American Legation at Bern, the texts of which were made available to the Swiss Minister at Tokyo for communication to the Japanese Government. The statement of April 7 was made available to the Spanish Embassy at Washington in a memorandum dated April 10, 1942.
The United States Government in the interest of the successful prosecution of further exchanges of nationals suggests that such exchanges can best be carried on if both parties thereto will guide their conduct in accordance with the original statement which provided that there should be no exceptions on the grounds of the importance of the individuals to the prosecution of the war effort.
- This note conveyed to the Japanese Foreign Office the contents of telegram No. 2177, September 4, to the Minister in Switzerland, p. 922.↩
- Foreign Relations, 1942, vol. i, pp. 412 and 420, respectively.↩