761.94/707
The Minister in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 12.]
Sir: In a conversation which I had on February 8, 1934, with General Ho Ying-ch’in, Minister of War and Chairman of the Peiping [Page 39] Branch Military Council, and General Huang Fu, Chairman of the Peiping Political Affairs Readjustment Council, the former stated—and the latter apparently concurred—that, although he does not regard immediate war between Russia and Japan as likely, he does believe that Japan intends to attack Russia and that, prior to that attack, Japan will occupy the northern Chinese provinces of Chahar, Hopei, and Shantung as a base against Russia and as a preventive against Chinese assistance to Russia.
I enclose a memorandum of the conversation.49
Respectfully yours,
- Not printed.↩