793.94/9345: Telegram
The Ambassador in Japan (Grew) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 13—1:16 p.m.]
264. Embassy’s 263, August 13, 7 p.m.
- 1.
- The Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs asked me to meet him at the Tilson [Tokyo] Club late this evening and gave me the text of the statement, the sense of which Hidaka has been instructed to communicate today to the five Ambassadors in Nanking in reply to their communication of August 11. In case any error should have occurred in communicating this message the Vice-Minister expressed the hope that I would cable the precise text to Washington. The text follows in section 2.94
- 2.
- The Vice-Minister said that the situation in Shanghai is dangerous because Chinese troops have been sniping at the Japanese landing forces who have naturally returned the fire. The Japanese, he said, earnestly wish to avoid hostilities. He expressed the hope that the Ambassadors in Nanking would arrange through their consular representatives in Shanghai for the Chinese troops to withdraw “to an arranged point” whereupon the Japanese forces would likewise withdraw to their original position. I asked the Vice-Minister if this was a request for mediation. He replied “yes, local mediation”.
- 3.
- I took the opportunity of this unsolicited interview to say to the Vice-Minister that I desired to support and earnestly to urge the importance of the representations made by the five Ambassadors in Nanking to the Japanese Embassy to the effect that the Japanese would not use Shanghai as a base for hostilities and that they would not land further forces. The Vice-Minister made no further comment except to thank me for having consistently had in mind the avoidance of undesirable publicity in the various steps which I have taken here.
- 4.
- The Vice-Minister told me that he was communicating also to the other concerned Ambassadors the instructions sent to Hidaka.
- 5.
- It does not now appear that anything further can usefully be done at this end of the line.
[Text:] “(1) Since the Japanese Government desire most earnestly the safety of the lives and property of the Japanese and foreign residents in Shanghai, they sincerely hope that hostilities will be avoided in and around Shanghai.
(2) It is, however, necessary that the Chinese regular troops and the equally armed Peace Preservation Corps which have been concentrated in the neighborhood of the International Settlement constituting a grave menace to the Japanese should be withdrawn at least to a point out of the fighting range and their military works around the International Settlement abolished, as the first step toward the ultimate securing of a faithful execution by the Chinese of the agreement of May 1932 regarding the cessation of hostilities around Shanghai.
(3) The Japanese naval landing party are under a strict order to act with the utmost patience and have, therefore, no intention whatsoever of embarking, without provocation, upon aggressive action against the Chinese troops or the Peace Preservation Corps. The Japanese Government are prepared to restore the naval landing party to their original position when the Chinese accede to the amendments above set forth. (Furthermore, when the Chinese have faithfully carried out the agreement mentioned above, the strength of the naval landing party will also be restored to the normal footing.)
(4) The Japanese Government, therefore, earnestly hope that the powers concerned will use all available means to expedite the withdrawal of the Chinese troops and the similarly equipped Peace Preservation Corps from the neighborhood of the International Settlement with a view to saving Shanghai from the imminent danger of an armed conflict.”
Repeated to Nanking.
- For another version of text see communication from the Japanese Ambassador in China to the American Ambassador in China, et al., Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941, vol. i, p. 343.↩