Doc. No. 6907 principle of the preamble to the Tripartite Pact, and would have to lead with a strong hand the nations affected by this New Order. In a conference on 29 March 1941 with the Reich Foreign Minister VON RIBBENTROP, after discussing in detail general plans relating to Singapore and trade relations between Japan and Germany, MATSUOKA pointed out that he was doing everything he could to reassure the English about Singapore; that he acted as if Japan had no Intention at all regarding this key position of England in the East; and that he assumed this attitude not only in order to reassure the British but also in order to fool the pro-British and pro-American elements in Japan until one day he would suddenly open the attack on Singapore. He took the position that a sudden attack against Singapore would unite the entire Japanese nation with one blow. In a conference on 4 April 1941, MATSUOKA secured from HITLER a promise to place at the disposal of the Japanese technical information and inventions which were needed by Japan, including especially that acquired by Germany's experience in submarine warfare. On 5 April 1941, MATSUOKA repeated in a conference with VON RIBBENTROP that he had long been of the opinion that every nation was offered an opportunity only once in a thousand years and that Japan was confronting such an opportunity and would have to assume the risk connected with it. She would have to act decisively at the right