[Secret]
From: Tokyo
To: Washington
November 26, 1941
Purple (Priority)
#833 (To be handled in Government Code)
Re
my #798 [a]
When
you reach a settlement in accordance with our new proposal, it is essential
that you secure guarantees for the acquisition of goods in connection with
clauses 2 and 3 of that proposal. Of these goods, the acquisition of petroleum
is one of the most pressing and urgent requirements of the Empire. Therefore,
in accordance with the course of negotiations, prior to the signing of an
understanding, and at as early a date as possible, I would like to have you
make our wishes known insofar as petroleum imports are concerned along the
following lines:
4,000,000
tons per year from the United States. (This figure is the average amount of
imports during the years 1938, '39, and '40 from the United States. The
breakdown according to type, aviation gasoline included, corresponds to the
actual figures covering imports before the freezing legislation went into
effect.) That is to say, roughly 333,000 tons per month.
In
addition, on the basis of past negotiations and roughly in the agreed amounts,
we hope to import from the Netherlands Indies 1,000,000 tons per year.
After
the establishment of a verbal agreement, I would like to have a definite
promise of the above incorporated into an exchange of documents between Your
Excellency and the Secretary of State.
Furthermore,
these figures are to be taken as the basis for negotiation (however, they can
not be called our absolute minimum figures). On the other hand, as far as we
are concerned, along with a restoration of trade in the future, we hope for an
increase of these figures over the past. Therefore, after you have read all
this, please negotiate along these lines to the best of your abilities.
Army #25346 Trans. 11/26/41 (S)
*S.I.S. #25040 which states that no further concessions can be made and if the United States does not consent to Proposal B, the negotiations will have to be broken off.
(EXHIBITS OF JOINT COMMITTEE , EXHIBIT NO. 1 INTERCEPTED DIPLOMATIC MESSAGES SENT BY THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT BETWEEN JULY l AND DECEMBER 8, 1941)