711.5112 France/40
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Japan ( MacVeagh )
Sir: For your information I desire to state that on June 30, the Japanese Ambassador, during the course of a call at the Department, in reply to an inquiry, stated that he had seen Mr. Briand’s proposals for a treaty with the United States but that he did not fully understand the purport of the French suggestions. I said that, while we had not yet had them absolutely clarified, Mr. Briand’s original statement that he desired to make a treaty to outlaw war seemed to be the basis of any proposal which France might make; that we already had a Treaty of Arbitration (Boot Treaty) with France which would expire during February, 1928, and likewise a Treaty for the Advancement of Peace (Bryan Treaty) which would remain in force indefinitely unless denounced; that we had this same type of treaties with Great Britain, and an Arbitration Treaty alone with Japan, which would expire in August, 1928. I added that the United States would, of course, not make any treaty with France which it would not be willing to offer to Japan and Great Britain, and that I would like the Ambassador to inform his Government that they might care to be looking into any proposals with regard to the renewal of the Root Treaty next summer, and if they so desired, [Page 623] to conclude a treaty along the plan of the Bryan Treaty which would enhance the good relations between Japan and the United States.
The Ambassador expressed his gratification at this statement and said that the delegates in Geneva had denied in the press that they had instructions on this subject and that of course it was entirely a separate subject from the Conference in Geneva but that it was gratifying to know that no special alliance was contemplated by the United States.
I am [etc.]