Historical Dictionary of United States-Japan ... - Bakumatsu Films

18 • INTRODUCTION
1937. The so-called China Incident, which Prime Minister Fumimaro
Konoe hoped to bring to an early conclusion with a preponderance of
force, quickly developed into a deadly quagmire, including Japanese attacks
on Shanghai and Nanjing, causing widespread death to Chinese
civilians. In early 1938, Konoe announced that henceforth his government
would deal with Chiang only on the battlefield and at the surrender
table. Later that year, Konoe proclaimed to the world that Japan sought
the construction of a “new order” in East Asia. Konoe’s “new order” envisioned
Japan, the puppet state of Manchukuo, and China (under a collaborationist
government in Nanjing) bound together. Washington responded
by announcing in July 1939 its intention to abrogate the
U.S.–Japan Treaty of Commerce and Navigation. Because Japan’s economic
well-being continued to depend on close commercial relations
with the United States, such a measure clarified American opposition to
Japan’s policy of aggression in China. In taking this step, however,
Washington had committed itself to nothing final. The application—or
non-application—of economic sanctions would depend on subsequent
Japanese actions.
The Japanese government for a time sought to conciliate the United
States. The most notable attempt toward this end occurred from September
1939 to January 1940 when Admiral Kichisaburō Nomura
served as foreign minister. However, in the summer of 1940, German
armies overran Western Europe, leaving the resource-rich regions of
Southeast Asia defenseless. With the advent of Konoe’s second cabinet
in July 1940, attentions in Tokyo duly turned to the conclusion of an alliance
relationship with Nazi Germany. As if to underscore its intentions
in negotiating an alliance with the Germans, Japanese forces in late
September advanced into northern French Indochina. Washington regarded
the defense of Britain as vital to its own survival, viewed Nazi
Germany as a quasi-enemy, and responded to Japan’s actions by slapping
a virtual embargo on aviation gasoline, high-grade iron, and steel
scrap for Japan. In September 1940, the Japan–Germany–Italy Tripartite
Pact was formally concluded after negotiations led by Yosuke Matsuoka,
the American-educated foreign minister of Japan.
The tone for the U.S.–Japanese negotiations of 1941 had thus been set.
Japan was allied explicitly with Nazi Germany, and the United States
was allied—in fact, if not yet in name—with Great Britain. Japan had
decided on an opportunistic policy of advancing into Southeast Asia, and