In greeting the first anniversary of the adoption of the Joint Declaration of the Greater East Asiatic Nations in the midst of intensity and decisive battles, the Imperial Japanese Government desire to make a statement of their views.
It is the traditional policy of Japan to establish world peace based upon international justice by securing the stability of East Asia and enabling all nations each to have its proper place and live in mutual aid and assistance. The Joint Declaration of the Greater East Asiatic Nations is an expression of the common faith and conviction of all the greater East Asiatic nations arising from this fundamental spirit. The Japanese Government, therefore, desire to make clear once again their determination to strengthen further their co-operation with the various countries of greater East Asia and rid them completely from the shackles of the United States and Britain, and thereby to hasten the construction of a greater East Asia based upon the sovereignty and independence of each country. At the same time they desire to reiterate their intention to exclude, in accordance with the declaration, aggression, menace, monopoly, exploitation and discrimination, and to establish a just world order in which independence and special character of each country are respected and the development and prosperity of people's life secured.
While the present war is a war of self-defence and for the preservation of our national polity which Japan has been compelled to wage under the intolerable pressure of the United States and Britain, Japan has taken up the sword in order to consummate the liberation of greater East Asiatic peoples by frustrating the Anglo-American imperialistic ambition which obstructs peaceful progress of the region and which denies its peoples' sovereign and independent existence.
Such is the reason why Japan is today resolutely engaged in this struggle for life or death by making every sacrifice and staking her national fortune for the sake of the nations and peoples of greater East Asia as well as for her own sake. In order to realize their insatiable ambitions, the United States
and Britain are committing the crime of letting their own sons to die in vain in plague-infested jungles and to drown in distant seas. Moreover, they make no scruple whatever of intimidating various small nations for the purpose of subjugating them to their egoistic will. Especially with regard to Japan and her Axis allies, they propose subjugation and slavery, while the nations and peoples of greater East Asia are to be made the object of the old-time aggression and exploitation under a revived system of colonial control.
At present the United States and Britain are pre-cocupied [sic] with futile propaganda to mislead the public regarding the progress of the war and to delude the world with their preposterous post-war plans. But on our side, brilliant war results, one after another, are being achieved these days. To these more and even greater war results will be added.
It is Japan's irrevocable aim to crush the enemy and to win the final victory and to make this war a complete success by devoting all her energy to the establishing of just and equitable world peace.