To free the world from contentions and conflicts and to make peace and good will prevail among mankind is an aim consonant with the great ideal upon which our Empire has been founded. It is to that end that a new order in East Asia is contemplated. Every country should be enabled to find its proper place of peace and contentment; there should be amity and harmony among neighbours; and there should be mutual respect for one another's natural endowments, and common prosperity and progress for all.
In the performance of the sacred task of reconstructing East Asia, the first step to be taken is to create and insure a new relationship between Japan, Manchoukuo and China. Needless to say, this new relationship should, of necessity, conform to the ideal underlying the construction of the new order in East Asia. That is why neighbourly amity and goodwill, common defence against the Comintern, and economic cooperation were advocated in the statement of the then Prime Minister, Prince Fumimaro Konoe. Our goal is clear. The concrete programme for the construction of the new order which the Japanese Government propose to accomplish in concert with the new central Government of China is formulated on that very statement. It is devoted to no other purpose than that the nations concerned shall respect one another's racial and national endowments, and shall cultivate relations of mutual aid and good fellowship, stand guard against the menace of Communism so as to insure the peace of East Asia, and practise the principle of ministering to one another's needs by setting-up a reciprocal economic system. That Japan will respect China's independence and freedom has been made clear in the successive statements issued by our Government, and it will be proved by facts as the present disturbances subside.
Although Japan and China are now engaged in hostilities, the two peoples should retain in their hearts the spirit of mutual sympathy and tolerance. The longer the hostilities last, the greater will be the sacrifices imposed upon East Asia. But certainly the great, eternal task of our Empire cannot be abandoned simply
because of these sacrifices. The determination of our Government and people is firm as ever, and the strength of our nation has been augmented according to plan, so that we are ready to carry on our campaign, no matter how long, until the eyes of China's anti-Japanese and pro-Communist régime are finally opened.
Far-sighted men are not lacking among the four hundred million people of China. Some enlightened leaders have long advocated peace and national salvation. In order to rescue their nation from suffering and distress, they are fearlessly standing for right and dedicating their lives to their cause. These men, who share the same solicitudes toward the general welfare of East Asia, are our comrades. We cannot but admire them for their high purpose and their unselfish enterprise.
Mr. Wang Ching-wei is an outstanding figure of the group. He could not endure the state of affairs by which his people were needlessly plunged into the depths of misery through the mistaken policy of the Chungking régime, which, in the last analysis, only hastened the sovietization of his country. He stood out for national salvation in opposition to Communism, and for the conclusion of peace with Japan. In the face of all pressure and persecution by Chungking, he pursued the path of his conviction, bringing light to his people lost in darkness. Thus has he won the confidence and the following of his people. His peace-and-national-salvation movement as well as the preparation for a new central Government have made rapid headway since the Sixth National Congress of the Kuomintang held in Shanghai in August last year.
For the sake of the peace of East Asia, we are truly gratified to know that the Central Political Conference is to meet soon and that a new central Government will be brought into being with the united support and cooperation of both régimes at Peking and Nanking and of the many leaders representing the various political groups and different sections of society. Japan will, of course, render whole-hearted assistance toward the formation of the new Government and is prepared speedily to extend recognition following its establishment.
In this connection I should like to add that I am deeply impressed by the fact that those leading statesmen in the Peking and Nanking Governments who have for the past two and a half years devoted every ounce of their energy to the reconstruction and rehabilitation of their respective areas, are now going forward with the work of restoring peace and building up a new China in full accord with Mr. Wang Ching-wei.
On the eve of the establishment of a new central Government of China, I express my ardent hope that Mr. Wang Ching-wei and all
those other men of vision and leadership, united in purpose and resolute in action, will proceed with the great task for the regeneration of Asia. I am convinced that their earnest endeavours will meet with popular approval and support both in and out of China, and that the misfortunes brought on by the present Sino-Japanese conflict will be turned into an eternal blessing.