793.94/9940
Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs (Hornbeck) to the Secretary of State
Mr. Secretary: In regard to the question of “good offices” for any possible efforts on the part of this Government to influence or persuade the Chinese or the Japanese Governments in relation to proposals [Page 381] which may be put by either to the other, it seems to me that we should be very much on guard in considering any suggestion that we exert ourselves toward inducing the Chinese to make concessions.
However, it seems to me that there is one thing which we might well consider now doing, a thing for which there would be a good deal of warrant: we might reasonably suggest to and even urge upon the Chinese Government that it withdraw troops which it apparently has introduced (over a period of some time past) into the area around Shanghai which falls within the so-called “demilitarized zone” which was set up by agreement between the Japanese and the Chinese in 1932. The Japanese have made the introduction of those troops the basis of complaint, and they may make it an excuse for action there. The Chinese claim that the agreement of 1932 was only for temporary purposes and that they have a full right to have introduced troops into the area. Regardless of reasons or of rights, those troops are not needed there for purposes of maintaining order; their presence there implies or suggests a military purpose; they serve as an irritant to the Japanese. Their withdrawal would tend to clarify the military atmosphere in that region and remove one at least of the grounds upon which the Japanese might attempt to justify military operations on their part around Shanghai, and thus facilitate the bringing about of an agreement that hostilities shall not be engaged in at that point. Inasmuch as the Chinese themselves have proposed something in the nature of a “neutralization of Shanghai,” I see no reason why we should not urge upon them withdrawal of these troops toward that general end.
FE80 is drafting.
- Division of Far Eastern Affairs.↩