Memo to Mr. Tavenner (Cont'd) Page 2 13 November 1947 The Councillor stated that the negotiations between Japan and Britain could not be limited to the Tientsin question. The Japanese Government understands that a complete reversal of the British-China policy cannot be expected in a day. Attached to Woermann's memo is a copy of the British- Japanese communique in English. 2. IPS Document No, 4055 Item 3 (serial 211, page 2) is a memo from Woermann to Ribbentrop dated 11 June 1941, OSHIMA informed Woermann through Councillor KASE of the con¬tents of a telegram from MATSUOKA dated 9 June 1941 with a request to transmit this information to Ribbentrop. OSHIMA requested again to be received by Ribbentrop in the matter of Japanese-United States relations. In his telegram MATSUOKA requested that Hitler be also notified of its contents. The contents are: (1)MATSUOKA has not yet received a reply from the United States Government and does not intend to request a reply. (2)As soon as a reply arrives, MATSUOKA will initiate consultations in Tokyo, He intends to discuss the reply with the German Govern¬ment before sending an answer to it to the United States. (3)MATSUOKA has no doubt that Roosevelt intends to break up the Tripartite Pact and to make it appear to the American people that it was not yet certain whether Japan would help Ger¬many in case of a collision between Germany and the United States> (4)He has also no doubt that America wants to maneuver Germany into firing the first shot in order to facilitate approval of a U.S. declara¬tion of war by the Senate and in order to make it appear to the American people that the United States had to defend herself. (5)It is sure that Roosevelt has decided to enter the war. Only the method mentioned under(4) above is still under consideration. Besides that, the entry of the United States into the war is only a question of time. -2-