740.0011 Pacific War/23
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Adviser on Political Relations (Hornbeck)
The Minister Counselor of the Netherlands Legation20 called on me this afternoon at his request. He began the conversation with casual remarks regarding the international situation. He then said that he had come to inform me, under instructions, that the negotiations at Batavia were moving along slowly and that his compatriots fully intend, in the event of threats or use of force by the Japanese, to resist with force. I said that I appreciated our being given the information thus imparted. I went on to remark that I had noted day by day recently evidence of continued and extensive licensing of exports of military equipment and supplies for the Netherlands East Indies. The Minister Counselor said that he also had noted that export of 320 tanks had been authorized and that other items also have been authorized. I said that I had recently again gone over the record and had noted that the total over the past two or three years was very substantial. The Minister Counselor replied that it required a good deal of material to equip an army of one hundred thousand men and that they had begun their efforts at preparedness very late. I replied that it was my impression that they had been at it for several years, at least five years.
- Baron O. G. W. H. van Boetzelaer van Oosterhout.↩