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Parent | Doc. 6907 - Collaboration Between Japan, Germany and Italy, Volume 1 - Opening Statement |
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Date | |
Language | English |
Collection | Tavenner Papers & IMTFE Official Records |
Box | Box 15 |
Folder | Japan, Germany, Italy Collaboration Vol 1 |
Repository | University of Virginia Law Library |
Doc. No. 6907
In the Privy Council Meetings which followed, attended by the accused, Foreign Minister MATSUOKA; War Minister TOJO; Chief of the Planning Board HOSHINO, Naoki; and Director of Military Affairs Bureau of the War Department Major General MUTO, the discussions fully developed the spirit in which the pact was concluded and may be turned to as a pro forma statement of events that were expected to occur.
MATSUOKA asserted that Japan had such strength she could tip the balance of the world as she liked; that Japanese supremacy in "Greater East Asia" in the building of the "New Order" meant for the time being French Indo-China, Thailand, Burma, the Strait Settlements, and such Ocianic islands as the Netherlands East Indies, New Guinea, New Caledonia and others, and that it would gradually extend to include Australia, New Zealand^and other territories and that Japan expected the cooperation of Germany and Italy in the "economic exploitation" of these areas. With regard to the United States, MATSUOKA declared that Japan would enter into a military alliance with Germany and Italy with America as the objective; that preparation for the eventuality of United States participation in the war should consist of strengthening the international situation by the conclusion of the pact and taking diplomatic, economic and military measures for the purpose of procuring necessary natural re¬sources for national defense from the South Seas and other places; and that the proposed alliance with Germany would put Japan in a position to be able to manipulate to her interest