JAPANESE – GERMAN – ITALIAN COLLABORATION INTRODUCTION Japanese expansion into Manchuria and China for the purpose of establishing the so-called New Order in East Asia and the South Pacific was shown in earlier phases of the case. In the attempted accomplishment of the objects of this plan a con¬spiracy to wage wars of aggression in violation of international law and treaty obligations was shown to have been initiated at least as early as 1931. In this phase it will be demonstrated how certain Japanese civilians, military and naval officers, and government officials, with the aid first of Germany and then Germany and Italy continued and perfected the common plan or conspiracy to wage such wars* A proper appraisal of the importance of Japanese- German-Italian collaboration and a clear understanding of the machinations of the accused in executing the conspiracy charged requires a statement of certain historical facts. Japanese ambi¬tion to dominate the continent of Asia may be said to have germinated in the Siberian Expedition of 1922o1 Political sabo¬tage in the Caucasus region of Russia was the subject of Official 1,Exhibit 667-A, TP 7310. The accused AKAKI in a conversa¬ tion with ISHIWATA, Secretary-General of the Imperial Kule Assistance Association, as shown -from the August 14, 1941 issue of the newspaper Kokumin Shimbun, stated; "Next we shall deal with the Siberian Expedition, Unqua¬lifiedly, we simpiy call it the Siberian Expedition but there were many very complicated circumstances lying in its background. Japan's present ambition to dominate the continent may fully be said to have germinated in the Siberian Expedition * * *."