793.94/7528: Telegram
The Ambassador in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
Peiping, December 14, 1935—2
p.m.
[Received 2:55 p.m.]
[Received 2:55 p.m.]
227. Embassy’s 226, December 13, 7 p.m.84 The Consulate General at Tientsin reports that according to two military sources withdrawal northward of Japanese forces to Shanhaikwan began December 11 and is still continuing; that the Japanese garrison there is nearly normal now; that of 20 planes 10 remain; that war supplies have been removed; that of 3 armored trains 2 have gone north with troops.
- 2.
- This withdrawal may well indicate a satisfaction on the part of the Japanese military with the situation in North China.
- 3.
- In this connection a Reuter report of yesterday from Tokyo is of possible interest. According to this report the current conference at Tientsin of Japanese military officers including Kita who has just [Page 491] arrived from Tokyo “is reported to have decided to regard the new regime as a self-contained administrative body virtually independent of the Nanking Government and ‘consequently all negotiations relating to North China affairs will be conducted with the new North China Committee with which negotiations will be opened forthwith to expedite the establishment of a common front against the advance of the communist influence’.” The report also states that important conclusions were reached with respect to reorganization and the probable strengthening of the Japanese garrison in North China.
Johnson
- Not printed.↩