740.0011 Pacific War/15
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Under Secretary of State (Welles)
The British Chargé d’Affaires called to see me at his request.
I told Mr. Butler in reply to the communication which he had made to me in our last interview concerning the desirability of Dutch, Australian, British and American staff conversations, that the Secretary of State had already said to Lord Lothian that in the judgment of this Government it was preferable at this time to limit these conversations strictly to an exchange of information and that this Government was not in a position to make any implied or direct commitment with regard to the course which it would pursue in the Far East in the realm of military operations.