The interested Governments other than the Chinese have now said in
effect 'buy time but as cheaply as possible'. The Chinese
Government has taken a strong stand against any such agreement
with the Japanese. Chiang Kai-shek' has telegraphed the President
[3] in most forceful terms, and the Chinese Ambassador [4] and Dr.

T. V. Soong [5] saw the President today and supported Chiang Kai-
shek's principal point, that any such agreement as has been
proposed (apart from detailed terms) would be interpreted in China
as sacrificing them for our purposes, and would be destructive to
Chinese morale.

Whether arising out of the above or not the Secretary of State
this afternoon handed to the Japanese representatives a document
detailing fundamental principles on which a general Pacific
settlement must be based (territorial integrity, peaceful methods,
law and order etc.) but containing no reference to the modus
vivendi. [6]

None of us (British Ambassador [7] etc.) can discover more than
this. Hope to find out more tomorrow.

CASEY