Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1940, The Far East, Volume IV

851G.01/31: Telegram

The High Commissioner in the Philippines (Sayre) to the Secretary of State

Manila, July 8, 1940—6 p.m.
[Received July 8—11:20 a.m.]

433. On June 27 Marc Chadourne, French Chargé de Mission of the Government of French Indochina in the east, informally supplied to me the contents of a telegram which he received June 26 from Admiral [General] Catroux, the Governor General of Indochina. According to Chadourne, the Governor General stated in that telegram that he did not intend to join a new French Government (then reported in the press to be in course of establishment in London), that he had issued a proclamation June 19 declaring Indochina would remain French and that he did not mean to lower the colors; that it imparted that this declaration was for Germany, Italy and Japan; that he had informed the British Government that he intended to remain faithful to the alliance and to particular agreements; that he intended to send a mission to America for the purchase of arms; that he needed credits and desired to have the holdings of the Bank of French Indochina in the Americas unfrozen; and that the arms which he intended to buy would be for the protection of Indochina from Japanese aggression. Chadourne requested that this information be sent informally to Washington. He was informed that such a communication ought properly to go through the French Government to the French Ambassador at Washington.

2. While a telegram embodying the foregoing was being coded, a report was published in Manila that a new Governor General (Admiral Decoux⁷⁴) had been appointed Governor General of French Indochina and Chadourne requested that the contents of his communication not be sent until he heard further in regard to the matter.

3. Chadourne has now received a further telegram from Catroux stating that he would like to have the contents of his previous telegram transmitted informally to Washington and repeating that he desires to arm Indochina with the view to being able to resist any aggression. Admiral [General] Catroux states that he is following a policy of appeasement vis-à-vis Tokyo, that the Japanese mission now in Indochina appears to be animated by good will but that he fears that there may be some coups on the part of the Japanese military in Canton and that he intends to preserve Indochina pending the arrival of Admiral Decoux. Chadourne states that a high official of the Ministry of Colonies is en route from France to Saigon and Chadourne believes it not unlikely that Admiral [General] Catroux will continue indefinitely as Governor General.

Sayre

74. Commanding French naval forces in the Far East.