99
394.115 Panay/59
The Ambassador in Japan (Grew)
to the Secretary of State
[Telegram]
TOKYO, December 14, 1937—6 p. m.
[Received December 14—10 a. m.]
630. 1. At 5 o'clock this afternoon Yoshizawa
[37] called on me upon instructions from the Minister for Foreign Affairs and
handed me a note of which the following is an informal translation made by the
Foreign Office. The translation is accurate in point of substance and
corresponds closely to the original Japanese text.
"December 14, 1937.
Monsieur l'Ambassadeur: Regarding the
incident of the 12th December in which the United States gunboat Panay and three steamers belonging to
the Standard Oil Company were sunk by the bombing of the Japanese naval
aircraft on the Yangtze River at a point about twenty-six miles above Nanking,
I had the honor, as soon as unofficial information of the incident was brought
to my knowledge, to request Your Excellency to transmit to the Government of
the United States the apologies of the Japanese Government. From the reports
subse-
[37] Director of the American Bureau of the Japanese Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
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DOCUMENTS
quently received from our representatives in China, it has been
established that the Japanese naval air force, acting upon information that the
Chinese troops fleeing from Nanking were going up the river in steamers, took
off to pursue them, and discovered such vessels at the above-mentioned point.
Owing to poor visibility, however, the aircraft, although they descended to
fairly low altitudes, were unable to discern any mark to show that any one of
them was an American ship or man-of-war. Consequently, the United States
gunboat Panay and the vessels of the
Standard Oil Company, being taken for Chinese vessels carrying the fleeing
Chinese troops, were bombed and sunk.
While it is clear, in the light of the above
circumstances, that the present incident was entirely due to a mistake, the Japanese
Government regret most profoundly that it has caused damages to the United
States man-of-war and ships and casualties among those on board, and desire to
present hereby sincere apologies. The Japanese Government will make
indemnifications for all the losses and will deal appropriately with those
responsible for the incident. Furthermore, they have already issued strict
orders to the authorities on the spot with a view to preventing the recurrence
of a similar incident.
The Japanese Government, in the fervent hope
that the friendly relations between Japan and the United States will not be
affected by this unfortunate affair, have frankly stated as above their sincere
attitude which I beg Your Excellency to make known to your Government.
I avail myself, etc., signed Koki
Hirota."
2. Yoshizawa then read to me portions of the
official Japanese naval report on the disaster the purport of which is that the
disaster was not caused by deliberate intention to bomb American vessels but
was due to the inability of the aviators to distinguish the nationality of the
vessels bombed. I informed Yoshizawa that his explanation does not cover the
fact that, notwithstanding information in Japanese hands that foreign vessels
were in the neighborhood of Nanking, bombarding and shelling operations by both
naval and military forces were carried out without any precautions taken
against attack upon foreign vessels. I also pointed out that the bombing and
shelling was carried out in the face of repeated assurances that measures had
been taken to safeguard against attacks upon American nationals and property.
3. I also stated to Yoshizawa that I had just
received instructions to present to the Minister for Foreign Affairs a note
from the American Government. I added that, although I appreciated the action
of
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the Japanese Government in delivering to me its note, I would proceed
with the instructions which had been given to me.
4. I am still waiting for an appointment to
call on Hirota which I asked for at 4 o'clock.
Repeated to Peiping for Hankow.
GREW