Handwritten note by Max Hamilton: Substance communicated orally to the Secretary [of State] Sept. 15. 1941 [initialed:] MMH September 13, 1941 It is reported in the press that there is about to be concluded an accord between the United States and Japan embodying an understanding on important questions of inter- national relations. Without knowing whether any such accord is in fact contemplated, certain officers of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs wish to place on record their view that it would be undesirable for the United States to enter into any accord with Japan which would tend either (1) to weaken Chinese resistance to Japan or (2) to relieve Japan from her present difficulties and thereby give her opportun- ity to gather her strength. Those officers entertain the view that the proposed accord as reported in the press, or any accord which does not provide for an immediate cessation of hostilities in China and effective guarantees for the early evacuation of China by Japanese armed forces, would constitute a betrayal of China which would undermine our position in China for many decades, would likely cause a surge of anti-American feeling throughout China and southeastern Asia, would seriously weaken throughout the world and in the United States the morale of those fighting and opposing aggression, and would be ineffective in achiev- ing the end which presumably it would be designed to achieve, namely