Today we greet the first anniversary of the Sino-Japanese Pact of Alliance that we concluded on the 30th of October last year, and I am glad to speak a few words on this auspicious occasion.
October of last year was a memorable month that witnessed an epochal progress in the resurgence and rehabilitation of East Asia. On the 14th of that month the independence of the Philippines was declared, and a week later, on the 21st, the establishment of the Provisional Government of Free India was proclaimed. It was on the 30th of the same month that the Sino-Japanese alliance was concluded, the first anniversary of which we celebrated today. This pact is truly the forerunner of the historic Joint Declaration--the eternal and imperishable Charter--adopted a week later at the Assembly of Greater East Asiatic nations convened in Tokyo. In the light of the fact that the stabilization of the relationship between Japan and China is a prerequisite to the reconstruction and development of East Asia, the vital importance of the Sino-Japanese Pact, which governs the relations between the two countries, is, I believe, self-evident.
We are accustomed to liken Japan and China to the "two wheels of a cart," and to speak of "neighbourliness and amity"--are these merely empty slogans or polite but meaningless terms of diplomacy? If Japan and China stand truly so in a relationship of mutual dependence like the two wheels of a cart--, if they are truly good neighbours, why have there been in the past so frequent misunderstandings, and so much friction and conflict?
As to the Sino-Japanese relations in the past, I do not deny that they have at times been none too satisfactory, nor do I ever think that China alone is to blame. However, it is a plain fact that the unfortunate happenings in the past between the two countries have not always been due to errors committed by themselves, but more often attributable to the machination of third Powers.
America and Britain, had long pursued a policy of aggression and colonial exploitation in Asia, thereby converting East Asia into a veritable happy hunting ground of Western Powers. They deliberately tried to prevent the awakening of the Oriental races forever. It was this vicious Anglo-American policy that caused such a frequent repetition of unfortunate incidents between Japan and China. They attempted to perpetuate their domination of Asia by pitting Orientals against Orientals, and by keeping Japan and China in continual strife, and the two countries were foolish enough to fall victims to the invaders' cunning stratagems.
The Japanese and Chinese nations, like the proverbial hunter who fails to see the mountain because of its trees, lost their bearings in the maze of an international structure created by Anglo-Saxon Powers for the sake of their own policy of global colonization. But one day, of a sudden, did they come to their senses, when the war of greater East Asia broke out, and the alarm was sounded loud throughout East Asia. The two nations awoke to the fact that their enemy was not within but without. They realized that "brothers quarrelling inside the house would suffer humiliation at the hands of outsiders."
To defend East Asia against external aggression is the common responsibility of all the countries of East Asia. Japan as the vanguard of East Asia is keenly conscious of her share of this responsibility.
America, considering Japan's existence as a great Power an obstacle to the realization of her ambition, embarked upon an economic war by enforcing the assets freezing order. An economic war is a kind of war intended to strangle the opponent. If Japan yielded, it would mean her suicide. It could mean the conversion of not only Japan but also the entire East Asia into the invaders' colonies to be oppressed and exploited forever. That is why all East Asia, as well as Japan, is carrying on a life-or-death struggle in this war for self-existence and self-defence.
To the nations and peoples of East Asia, this war is both internally and externally a war of self-discovery. It is, in fact, a war of self-discovery to the rest of the world as relates its position to East Asia. The truth that Asia should be restored to Asiatics has come to be clearly recognized. The national policy of China toward Japan has advanced from that of sharing both sweet and bitter to a policy of living and dying together, and she has now entered the sacred war of greater East Asia. Japan and China are fighting shoulder to shoulder against the common enemy--here we may see the true selves of both nations--so it is with all East Asia, for Burma and the Philippines are also partners in the common war for the defence of the region.
Thus by letting bygones be bygones, Japan and China have been restored to their true selves. The Sino-Japanese Pact of Alliance which was concluded a year ago today states in its preamble the firm resolution of the two countries to respect each other's sovereignty and independence as good neighbours, collaborate intimately in the construction of greater East Asia on the basis of justice, and contribute to the establishment of universal peace, eliminating
all evils detrimental to that purpose. Under Article I, it stipulates the mutual respect of sovereingty [sic] and territorial integrity, and makes clear the intention of both countries to try every means to promote their fraternal relations. Under Article II, the two countries promise each other close collaboration and every assistance for the construction and security of greater East Asia, and Article III provides for intimate economic co-operation upon a basis of reciprocity.
Japan's attitude toward China is to be extended to other East Asiatic countries and indeed toward all the countries of the world. The spirit of the Sino-Japanese Pact is made manifest in the Joint Declaration of Greater East Asia. What Japan aims to accomplish is to frustrate the enemy ambition for world-wide monopoly and hegemony, remove all prejudices, exclude no people but collaborate with all, the realize a world of true peace and concord where all nations and people may each have its own place.
These points constitute the keynote of Japan's foreign policy, as well as her war aim. We have an abiding faith in this policy of justice and are going forward to accomplish these just war aims of ours with inflexible confidence in our ultimate victory. The spectacular victory achieved recently by the Imperial forces around the Philippines testifies eloquently to this fact. It is an event unparalleled in history that a similar policy is being pursued by all the nations of East Asia, and that, strengthening their solidarity more than ever, they are exerting their utmost efforts toward the successful prosecution of the war.
Recently, in America and Britain, discussions are rife regarding the international structure to be established after the war. A post-war peace structure conference, sponsored by the American Government, was recently held, attended by the delegates of the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the Chungking régime. The Anti-Axis League Plan, which is said to have been proposed by the Anglo-Saxon delegates at the conference, shows that they are seeking to achieve their inordinate ambition of global hegemony by placing the world under the administration of America, Britain, and the Soviet Union and permanently subjugating the Axis Powers. The interests of minor nations are, of course, ignored.
The plan unmistakably reflects the aspiration of America and Britain to rule the world by force. They once treated Chungking ostensibly as an equal for the purpose of utilizing that régime in their war against Japan. But now that Chungking has proved too weak to be useful, they vie with each other in abusing it. Chungking or Yen-an, they do not care about which they use as long as it can be made a cat's-paw in their scheme for tightening their grip of the vast territory of China politically, militarily and economically. They aim at destruction and conquest for the sake of achieving world hegemony. Against this enemy of ours, we must persist to the end in our high purpose for construction and co-operation. To save East Asia there could possibly be no one else but the peoples of East Asia themselves.
China today is confronted by a momentous situation. It is time, I believe, for the Chinese people to rise in a great national movement and
to secure the future of their country under the banner of concord and co-operation and to contribute to the renascence of East Asia.
The National Government resolutely declared war against America and Britain in January last year, and she has contracted with Japan a relationship under which the two nations are bound to "live and die together." The Sino-Japanese Pact of Alliance concluded a year ago clarifies the neighbourly relations between the two countries for all the years to come.
So it is in the firm conviction that Japan and China can henceforth march on hand in hand together with other nations and peoples of East Asia for the reconstruction of their region and for the inauguration of an enduring world peace that we celebrate heartily the anniversary of today.