-2- namely the protection of our Pacific flank while we turn our attention to the Atlantic. Those officers are of the belief that the Japanese Government is not in position to agree to the evacuation of China by Japanese armed forces; that any guarantees which might be given by the Japanese Government in this regard or in regard to further expansion southward, short of immediate withdrawal of troops, would not be effective as a real protection of out interests; that any accord at the present time would constitute an attempt at appeasement, with all of the current implications of the term, and would, with costly consequence, fail.