761.94/778: Telegram
The Minister in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 4—5:12 a.m.]
395. My telegram No. 390, August 29, noon.87 Gauss forwards memorandum of a conversation with Soviet Ambassador at Nanking in which latter indicated anxiety regarding reported renewal of Anglo-Japanese alliance and expressed opinion that some important development had occurred in Japan’s international relations which encouraged the Japanese Foreign Office abruptly to terminate Soviet-Japanese negotiations for the sale of the Chinese Eastern Railway when they had reached a point where an understanding might confidently [Page 268] have been expected. Soviet Ambassador regarded the present Soviet-Japanese tension as serious stating that there was danger that Japan might seize Chinese Eastern Railway thus creating a situation of great difficulty for Soviet Russia which does not desire to engage in war.
- Not printed.↩