Your telegram 515. [2]

Now that joint action has been taken by the United States and
British Empire countries, I urge that the position that will arise
if serious Japanese reactions are provoked should at once be taken
up and pressed with the United States.

We feel that this is a matter which does not permit of delay and
that everything should be done to make it clear to the United
States Administration that we all regard the question as of vital
importance.

If the Americans feel in their hearts that in the event of war-
like retaliation by Japan they could not remain aloof from the
conflict, surely they can be made to see that a plain indication
by them to Japan at this stage would probably avoid war.

I recognise the traditional reluctance of the United States to
enter into outside commitments in advance, but where the
commitment seems inevitable there is everything to be gained by
promptly accepting it and everything to be lost by delay.

There is an apprehension in our minds and in the minds of leading
members of the Opposition that the dangers in the Pacific are more
dimly perceived elsewhere than by ourselves. We, vividly conscious
of those dangers, are still convinced that the United States
Administration is in the best position to dispel them. The
faintest drift in our handling of the Japanese problem may mean
that Japan will engage in policies from which at a later stage she
cannot withdraw without a serious loss of face. [3]

MENZIES