" The last article provided that
"the present agreement must remain profoundly secret except to both of
the High Contracting Parties."[72] That is to say, the treaty was not
communicated to the other Allies, or even to Great Britain, in spite of
Article 3 of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, which provides that "The High
Contracting Parties agree that neither of them will, without consulting
the other, enter into a separate agreement with another Power to the
prejudice of the objects described in the preamble of this Agreement,"
one of which objects was the preservation of equal opportunity for all
Powers in China and of the independence and integrity of the Chinese
Empire.
On February 16, 1917, at the very time when America was urging China to
sever diplomatic relations with Germany, we concluded an agreement with
Japan containing the following words:--
His Britannic Majesty's Government accedes with pleasure to the
request of the Japanese Government, for an assurance that they
will support Japan's claims in regard to the disposal of
Germany's rights in Shantung and possessions in the islands north
of the equator on the occasion of the Peace Conference; it being
understood that the Japanese Government will, in the eventual
peace settlement, treat in the same spirit Great Britain's claims
to the German islands south of the equator.
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