NEW FOREIGN MINISTER TANI
By MASAYOSHI ARAI
ON September 1, 1942, when the Cabinet decided to set up a Ministry for Greater East Asia Affairs, Shighénori Togo, then Foreign Minister, tendered his resignation due to personal reasons. But the Anglo-American nations immediately utilized the occasion to launch a word campaign against Japan for the purpose of sowing discords between this country and the Soviet Union. However, their manœuvres failed to register any effect on the Stalin Government, because it found no connection whatsoever between the projected Ministry for Greater East Asia Affairs and the resignation of Shighénori Togo. The truth is that the decision to organize the new ministry was taken primarily to facilitate the construction of the mutual prosperity sphere in greater East Asia.
After the resignation of Shighénori Togo, Premier General Hidéki Tohjo concurrently assumed the post of Foreign Minister for the time being. On September 17 he selected Masayuki Tani, President of the Board of Information, as Foreign Minister in addition to his present duties. This step was taken to bring about increased co-ordination between the two offices. The new Foreign Minister is a career diplomat and is well acquainted with the affairs of greater East Asia. His appointment was favourably received by the home press. The consensus of newspaper comments is that by selecting him to head the Foreign Office the Tohjo Ministry has at once publicly reaffirmed that there will be no departure from its existing foreign policy. Since the new Foreign Minister in the capacity of President of the Board of Information has already participated in the formulation of the external policy of the Government, it is all the more obvious
that his selection constitutes an added guarantee that the foreign policy of this country will remain unchanged.
It must be observed that the assumption of the portfolio of Foreign Affairs and the retention of the post of President of the Board of Information by one and the same person means a unification of Japan's foreign and publicity policies. The press is inclined to believe that the wartime publicity policy can best be carried out by giving full play to the functions of the Foreign Office, simultaneously utilizing its facilities to disseminate informations conducive to the interest of Japan. It also expresses the opinion that the liaison between the Foreign Office and the Ministry for Greater East Asia Affairs will be maintained in a harmonious manner by the new Foreign Minister, especially when he has been one of the sponsors of the latter office, having taken part in mapping out its organizational structure as one of the four key officials of the Cabinet. The Ministry for Greater East Asia Affairs has been empowered to deal with the region's political affairs and relative questions; whereas the Foreign Office still retains its control over the diplomatic matters of the sphere. Consequently, Foreign Minister Tani, who has expert knowledge of both sides, is best suited to develop efficient co-ordination and co-operation between the two offices.
Masayuki Tani, who was born at Kumamoto, Kyushu, is now fifty-four years of age. He is one of the three Foreign Ministers in recent years to hail from Kyushu. Koki Hirota, former Foreign Minister and Prime Minister, comes from Fukuoka and Shighénori Togo, the outgoing Foreign Minister, was born at Kagoshima in the southern extremity of Kyushu. Graduating from the Law College department of the Tokyo Imperial University in 1913, Masayuki Tani immediately entered the service of the Foreign Office. Among his classmates were the late Sotomatsu Kato, former Ambassador to France, and Toshio Shiratori, former Ambassador to Rome. Being an active man, he is bound to inject fresh vigour into the personnel of the Foreign Office. Of his same age among the Cabinet members are Naoki Hoshino, Chief Secretary of the Cabinet,
Nobusuké Kishi, Minister of Commerce and Industry, and Lieutenant-General Tei-ichi Suzuki, Minister without portfolio and President of the Planning Board.
Masayuki Tani began his diplomatic career in 1914, when he assumed the post of consul at Canton. Later on, after his marriage with the daughter of Prince Shimazu, Chief of the Court Ladies, he proceeded to the Netherlands and visited France and other European countries. During his stay in Europe, he attended the first and third meetings of the League of Nations and the Lausanne Conference following the termination of the World War as a staff member of the Japanese delegations. In 1924, he returned home and was appointed chief of the first section of the Asiatic Affairs Bureau in the Foreign Office. Subsequently, for a brief period, he was assigned to the Embassy at Washington as first secretary. On his return to Tokyo, he was again appointed chief of the first section of the Asiatic Affairs Bureau, and thus, this department became his "diplomatic home." In 1930, the year before the outbreak of the Manchurian incident, when an ominous situation was developing in Manchuria, he was promoted to become Director of the Asiatic Affairs Bureau—a post in which he was able to give full play to his abilities. Under his direct guidance, the so-called Asiatic Affairs Bureau clique organized by him when he was sectional chief made its influence strongly felt in the Foreign Office. At the time of the outbreak of the Mukden incident on September 18, 1931, he was still in charge of the Asiatic Affairs Bureau.
With the start of the Manchurian incident, Baron Shidéhara, then Foreign Minister, desired to adhere to a policy of localization and non-aggravation; but the Kwantung Army in self-defence demanded the dispatch of a punitive expedition against Marshal Chang Hsueh-liang. On the other hand, the United States resorted to a policy of intimidating Japan. The Foreign Ministry then requested Masayuki Tani, Director of the Asiatic Affairs Bureau, to work out a formula for the settlement of the incident agreeable to Japan and third parties. Moreover, the War Office found it imperative to acquaint the Foreign Office with
the true nature of the Manchurian imbroglio. So joint conferences were held at the room of the Director of the Asiatic Affairs Bureau in the Foreign Office at noon every day among the officials of the War, Navy and Foreign Ministries, with General Kuniaki Koiso, then Director of the Military Affairs Bureau in the War Office, participating in the deliberations. Conferees from the Foreign Office included Masayuki Tani and Toshio Shiratori, then Director of the Information Bureau. The latter urged the pursuing of a vigorous policy toward Manchuria and the United States. He and Masayuki Tani were instrumental in making the Foreign Office revise its views on the Manchurian impassé. It may be recalled that at that time Toshio Shiratori was engaged in spectacular wordy duels with Colonel Henry Stimson, then American Secretary of the State, and curiously enough, his "arsenal" during those occasions was the room of the Director of the Asiatic Affairs Bureau.
Masayuki Tani and Toshio Shiratori eventually succeeded in prevailing upon Hachiro Arita, then Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, to approve their plan of presenting an energetic front against Manchuria, with the result that the Foreign Office formulated a policy to open direct negotiations with China for the termination of the affair, simultaneously agreeing to secure Japan's withdrawal from the League of Nations. The Manchurian incident and the consequent League's policy of interfering in the movement of life in East Asia hardened Japan's determination to strive for the construction of a new order in this part of the globe—a determination which is now bearing fruits. Note should be taken of the fact that Masayuki Tani played a significant part in shaping this new policy of the diplomatic machinery of the Japanese Government. By his firm stand, he not only rebelled against the principles of former diplomacy, but also set to work energetically for the elimination of the Anglo-American influences from East Asia. The new departure in utter disregard of the tradition of the Foreign Office motivated those bureaucrats of it who still held America and Britain in high esteem to call him names,
implying that he was a servile sycophant. But Masayuki Tani, ignoring their inflated criticism, determined himself to bring about a unity of purpose between diplomacy and military policy—a purpose which has now been fully realized. He took such an unprecedeted [sic] step, because he was convinced in his mind that the Manchurian incident was the precursor of a gigantic East Asiatic revolution which was bound to come sooner or later. Therefore, those who called him names lacked foresight, while he was able to envision the coming changes at the psychological moment.
Masayuki Tani served as Director of the Asiatic Affairs Bureau from 1930 to 1932 under three Foreign Ministers, namely, Baron Shidéhara, Kénkichi Yoshizawa and Yasuya Uchida. When the Empire of Manchoukuo was founded on March 1, 1932, the Foreign Ministry, which had earlier accepted his proposal to maintain close relations with the military, feeling extremely solicitous for the sound growth of the new kingdom, appoirted [sic] General Muto, commander of the Kwantung Army, concurrently as Ambassador to Manchoukuo. Yasuya Uchida, then Foreign Minister, selected Masayuki Tani, who had participated in the founding of the Manchoukuo Empire in the capacity of Director of the Asiatic Affairs Bureau, as the first counsellor to the new Embassy at Hsinking to assist General Muto in effecting closer diplomatic contacts between Japan and Manchoukuo.
It may not be out of place to suggest that the present assignment of Masayuki Tani bears some likeness to ones he held during the Manchurian incident and after it. As Director of the Asiatic Affairs Bureau and later as counsellor to the Japanese Embassy at Hsinking he brought the Foreign Office into closer intercourse with the Army. Now as Foreign Minister, having participated in the formulation of the Ministry for Greater East Asia Affairs, he has been charged with the task of realizing inseparable relations between the Foreign Office and the War Office. Therefore, he may be considered, at present, the most important "contact man" between diplomacy and military policy.
After successfully discharging his duties as Embassy counsellor, Masayuki Tani proceeded to Europe in 1936 as Minister to Vienna. Immediately following the start of the China affair, he was recalled home and appointed Minister at large and stationed at Shanghai. In this capacity he assisted General Iwané Matsui, Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese expeditionary forces, and handled many delicate international diplomatic problems arising out of hostilities between Japan and China. Here again he proved the utility of maintaining uniformity between foreign and military policies, and as a consequence, he became popular among both military and Foreign Office circles.
Masayuki Tani as Minister at large always strove to safeguard the interest of Japan. When occasions demanded, he was quite prepared to request foreign Powers to fall in line with Japanese views in regard to the external policies of them centring on the China affair. For instance, in 1938, he demanded that the French Government should close the Hanoi-Kunming route, because arms supplies to General Chiang Kai-shek were passing through it after being landed at French Indo-China. This boldness on his part clearly showed that he was not at all a weakling, but a shrewd diplomat. Although the French Government declined to accede to his demand at that time, it nevertheless gave Japan a clear hint as to what concrete step it should take in the future. Consequently, at a later date, owing to a change in diplomatic circumstances, the French Government acquiesced in the Japanese proposal to close the Indo-China route. On the other hand, the result of this stand on the part of Masayuki Tani was that when he was appointed Ambassador to Paris, the French Government declined to accept him as envoy. Then in 1939, he was appointed Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Abé Cabinet.
The Abé Ministry came at a time when the situation at home and abroad was causing anxieties to all international Powers. The uncertain European situation and the non-settlement of the dispute arising out of the Nomonhan incident caused
the Foreign Office to maintain a cautious stand with regard to diplomatic commitments. Though Admiral Kichisaburo Nomura as Foreign Minister remained in charge of diplomacy, Vice-Minister Tani was the man who had to work hard to safeguard the interest of Japan. Both America and Britain made repeated diplomatic manœuvres to alienate Japan from Italy and Germany. But Vice-Minister Tani efficiently assisted Admiral Nomura to steer clear off detrimental pledges. However, the fall of the Abé Cabinet, as a sequel to the stubborn opposition of the Foreign Office officials to the proposal to form a Foreign Trade Ministry, disclosed that this time Vice-Minister Tani failed to win the confidence of his colleagues.
With the protraction of the China affair, the functions of the Foreign Office began to be evidently curtailed. Earlier, the establishment of the China Affairs Board caused the transference of business relating to China from the Foreign Office to it. General Kazushighé Ugaki, then Foreign Minister, sympathizing with the protest of the Foreign Office officials, tendered his resignation. Then when the Abé Cabinet planned to set up a Foreign Trade Ministry incorporating the Bureau of Foreign Trade, the Foreign Office officials naturally took exception to it. Consequently, Vice-Minister Tani could hardly have any ground to strike for a compromise with the official group. The result was that the plan for organizing a Foreign Trade Ministry was dropped.
In the succeeding Yonai Cabinet, Masayuki Tani retained his post of Vice-Minister under Hachiro Arita who became Foreign Minister, thereby reviving on a large scale their previous relations established during the Manchurian incident, when the former was Director of the Asiatic Affairs Bureau and the latter Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs. The new Arita-Tani teamwork accelerated the formation of an energetic policy toward China, which proved its weight with the signing of a basic treaty between Japan and the Nanking Government of President Wang Ching-wei. Until the formation of the second Konoye Cabinet
in the summer of 1940, Vice-Minister Tani exerted his best efforts directed toward establishing a new East Asiatic structure hinged on Sino-Japanese collaboration. After that he resigned his post and remained inactive till October, 1941, when he was appointed President of the Board of Information.
During the time of the Japanese-American negotiations, President Tani kept himself fully busy to make the United States understand the conciliatory intention of this country. But when Japan declared war on America and Britain to insure its self-existence, he took charge of the propaganda warfare, and while on the one hand he started exposing the hollowness of the Anglo-American coloured statements, on the other he began to explain to the peoples of greater East Asia Japan's sincere desire to establish regional harmony in this part of the world. As Foreign Minister, he is now shouldering a great responsibility to shape the new diplomacy of the nation. Fortunately enough, he has assumed important positions mostly during emergency conditions. From the Manchurian affair to this day all his appointments have been more or less connected with settling emergency issues. Therefore, he is well versed in emergency diplomacy. Now what is required of him is the shaping of this emergency diplomacy on a permanent footing.
When he was serving as counsellor to the Japanese Embassy at Hsinking, he became acquainted with General Hidéki Tohjo, who was then commander of the gendarmerie force of the Kwantung Army. He has since become one of the latter's close friends. No less intimate friendship has developed between him and Lieutenant-General Tei-ichi Suzuki, President of the Planning Board and the right-hand man of Premier Tohjo, on account of their earlier friendship, when Foreign Minister Tani was Director of the Asiatic Affairs Bureau and Lieutenant-General (then Lieutenant-Colonel) Suzuki was chief of the Manchurian and Mongolian Affairs section in the War Office. These personal relations will no doubt go a long way to enable the new Foreign Minister to overcome inter-office frictions and strive for attaining unimpeachable official solidarity.
Soon after his assumption of office, the new Foreign Minister in a public statement declared that the fundamental principles relative to Japan's foreign policy would not undergo any change. In this way, at the outset, he frustrated the Anglo-American attempts to circulate misleading impressions. Since his appointment has been hailed by the Axis group of nations, it is apparent that he will endeavour his utmost to formulate future policies based on the tripatite [sic] alliance among Japan, Germany and Italy. He gave a clear-cut indication of his diplomacy when he stated as follows:
The foreign policy of Japan will be pursued in accordance with the basic principles which have already been decided upon by the Cabinet. There will be no change in the respect for the Neutrality Pact as has been hitherto done by the Japanese Government in dealing with its relations with the Soviet Union. As for the Axis Powers and other allies, the Government will further tighten its alignment with them.
The principle, guiding Japan's foreign policy toward greater East Asia, will be based on the spirit of bakko ichiu which inspired the founding of the Japanese Empire, aiming at enabling all nations of the world each to secure its proper place. In consequence, all the countries in greater East Asia will have their independence fully respected, but indiscriminate claim of independence by various peoples in their own way should be deprecated, as it would mar the great ideal of the new order in greater East Asia. The ethical idea, regulating the relations among the peoples of greater East Asia, must be one regulating the relations between parents and children or between brothers under a family system.
Significance should be attached to his announcement that the guiding principle of Japan's foreign policy toward greater East Asia will be based on the spirit of a family system. This means that each unit of greater East Asia will be given its due share to propagate its own welfare and the welfare of the co-prosperity sphere as a whole. On the other hand, the question of independence of the southern nations will be handled by the Ministry for Greater East Asia Affairs, which has been vested with the authority to deal with all political questions concerning the sphere. In this manner, the Government has delegated joint responsibility to both offices to make greater East Asia a well-knit family of nations.
Foreign Minister Tani has been charged with the task of accomplishing a new order of things, epochal and unknown, in this part of the globe. Being possessed of sound diplomatic judgment, foresight and acumen, he is in a position to initiate steps directed toward attaining normal homogeneity in greater East Asia, particularly when he will receive all possible assistance from the new Ministry for Greater East Asia Affairs. Similarly, the latter office will be able to discharge its duties assured of the support of the Foreign Office. Indeed, Masayuki Tani has now been called upon to re-enact the rôle he played during the founding of the Manchoukuo Empire on a much larger and wider scale.