761.9411/76: Telegram
The Ambassador in Japan (Grew) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 14—7:30 a.m.]
551. The following statement by Prime Minister Konoye was issued by the Board of Information last night:
“The Japanese Government some time ago made public both at home and abroad their unalterable determination, by concluding the tripartite pact among Japan, Germany and Italy to prevent a worldwide spread of war and to “secure the peace of greater East Asia with that pact as the axis of the country’s foreign policy. It goes without saying that, in order to realize such a purpose, it is essential that Japan and the Soviet Union, which are neighbors in the Far East, should strengthen their peaceful and friendly relation on a lasting basis, reinforcing thereby the spirit of the said pact of alliance. With this conviction, the Government has for some time been conducting negotiations with the Soviet Government with a view to bringing about a fundamental adjustment of Japan’s relation with the Soviet Union. With the present visit to Moscow of the Foreign Minister, Mr. Yosuke Matsuoka, as a turning point, the conversations between the two Governments have made rapid progress, resulting in the signature today, April 13, of the pact of neutrality between the Foreign Minister, Mr. Yosuke Matsuoka, and Ambassador Lieutenant General Yoshitsugu Tatekawa, and the Soviet Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Vyacheslav Molotov, which has just been announced. At the same time the joint declaration by the two countries has been issued through which Japan respects the territorial integrity and inviolability of the People’s Republic of Mongolia and the Soviet Union respects the territorial integrity and inviolability of Manchukuo, thereby expecting to bring tranquility to the Manchukuo-Soviet and Manchukuo-Outer Mongolian borders.
It is my belief that the present pact has an epoch-making significance in the relations between Japan and the Soviet Union and that it will greatly contribute toward the promotion of world peace. I have no doubt that the pact will serve as a basis for rapid solution in a concrete manner of various pending questions between the two countries.”