[Secret]
From: Washington (Nomura)
To: Tokyo
September 30, 1941
Purple (CA)
#881 Part 1 of 2 [a]
Last
Monday after a long time I went to call on Admiral STARK. In the middle of our
conversation Rear Admiral TURNER joined us. The Admiral said that after all the
question of troops stationed in China would do most damage to the negotiations
and that unless the China Incident is settled an understanding between Tokyo
and Washington will be impossible. TURNER said that he doubted if we would agree
to evacuate China, but if no agreement were reached in the preparatory talks
any conversations between the leaders of the two countries might be dangerous.
While
we were talking about the Tripartite Alliance, the Admiral stated that the
United States does not intend to go ahead and strike at Japan, adding that if
the United States fights a two ocean war after all she will have to defend
herself in the Pacific.
Army 22987 Trans. 10/2/41 (2)
[a] Part 2 not available.
(EXHIBITS
OF JOINT COMMITTEE , EXHIBIT NO. 1 INTERCEPTED DIPLOMATIC MESSAGES SENT BY THE
JAPANESE GOVERNMENT BETWEEN JULY l AND DECEMBER 8, 1941)