767.68119/865

The Ambassador in Japan (Grew) to the Secretary of State

No. 940

Sir: In compliance with the Department’s instruction No. 542, dated June 29, 1934,12 I have made discreet inquiries in an endeavor to determine what, if any, action, formal or informal, the Turkish authorities may have taken vis-à-vis the Japanese Government looking toward a revision of the Straits Convention. I have also endeavored to obtain information regarding the attitude of the Japanese Government in this matter.

Mr. Horinouchi, Chief of the Bureau of American Affairs at the Foreign Office, who was informally and discreetly consulted, told a member of my staff that the Japanese Government had not been approached in any way in this question but that Mr. Horinouchi recalled that the Turkish Government had proposed the matter at the last General Disarmament Conference.

He stated that he could not, unfortunately, indicate what the attitude of the Japanese Government would be in the event that it should be approached by the Turkish Government because “present conditions and circumstances might have altered at that time.”

Respectfully yours,

Joseph C. Grew
  1. See footnote 87, p. 973.