Special Ambassadors to Nanking; Announcement of the Foreign Office, August 28, 1942
Wang Ching-wei, President of the Republic of China and concurrently the President of the Executive Yuan of the National Government, paid a visit to Japan some time ago, and recently that Government sent to our country the Special Ambassador, Chu Min-i, through whom the National Government expressed their firm determination to co-operate with Japan for the prosecution of the war of greater East Asia. For the purpose of returning courtesy to the National Government and at the same time strengthening further the co-operation between Japan and China, the Japanese Government have decided to dispatch Special Ambassadors to China.
Upon the outbreak of the war of greater East Asia, the National Government promptly issued a statement, in which they made clear their determination to meet all difficulties with an unshakable spirit in order to realize the common purpose of Japan and China to establish a new order in East Asia, and to bring about a complete fulfilment of the ultimate purpose by co-operating with Japan wherever and whenever required. We cannot but rejoice that the said determination of the National Government has since been translated into concrete action through their various administrations. The Japanese Government are keenly conscious of the icreasing [sic] importance of the co-operation between the two countries at the present stage of the war, and are not stinting in extending wholehearted co-operation for the growth of the National Government. It is in this spirit that the Japanese Government have decided to send Special Ambassadors to that Government.
The following are the principal members of the mission which is scheduled to leave Tokyo shortly: Ambassadors—Baron Kiichiro Hiranuma, ex-Premier; Hachiro Arita, ex-Foreign Minister; Ryutaro Nagai, ex-Communications Minister; Members of the Suite—Minoru Tanaka, Secretary of the Board of China Affairs; Sadakichi Kawato, Secretary of the Board of China Affairs; Kumaichi Yamamoto, Director of the Bureau of East Asiatic Affairs, Foreign Office; Hisanari Yamada. Secretary of the Foreign Office; Shighénobu Shima, Secretary of the Foreign Office; Koki Naganuma, Secretary of the Finance Ministry; Lieutenant-General Kyoji Tominaga; Lieutenant-Colonel Etsuo Miyamoto; Vice-Admiral Ryozo Fukuda; Commander Yoshitané Kisaka and Kohzo Ohta, member of the House of Peers.