I join the rest of our nation in tendering heartfelt thanks to His Excellency Mr. Wang Ching-wei for the visit he is now paying to this country, sparing his precious time, for the purpose of personally calling on the Imperial Family and holding intimate conferences with Japanese leaders, both official and private, on the future of East Asia. We are welcoming Mr. Wang as President of the Government of our neighbouring nation and his party not merely for the sake of formality. It is with a feeling of moral uplift that we look up to Mr. Wang as our friend and champion of the renaissance of East Asia, inasmuch as he has devoted all his past life to the cause of China as a true patriot and therefore to the cause of Japan and that of East Asia as a whole, in a spirit of true martyrdom in the face of all dangers and difficulties and overcoming all sorts of persecutions while manifesting his devotion to his noble cause in all that he has fought for and achieved.
What Mr. Wang endured and how he laboured during the decade preceding the China Affair in an effort to forestall a wholesale clash between Japan and China is well known to the entire Japanese nation, who all know that some of the bullets which his would-be assassin fired at him still remain lodged in his body as a living memorial of
the sacrifices he has made in fighting for the truth as a fearless pioneer in international politics. Mr. Wang's conviction that he must cooperate with Japan for no other reason than that he loves his own country is absolutely correct. This conviction of his is the natural sequel to Pan-Asianism as advocated by the late Dr. Sun Yat-sen and coincides with Japan's aspirations for the construction of a new order in East Asia. Upon the conscience of Japan as a moral nation, we whole-heartedly support this rightful conviction of Mr. Wang's and are ready to do our utmost to help in consolidating and fostering the Government of our neighbouring nation which is founded on this conviction.
Viewed from an unbiased objective standpoint, Japan can perhaps think of three different ways of dealing with China. First, Japan may think of encroaching upon China by exacting indemnities or cession of territory. Second, Japan may think of partitioning China in collaboration with some strong third Powers. These two methods are the result of the imperialistic policies followed by various Powers during the past century, thereby virturally [sic] converting China into colonies of their own. Thirdly, however, Japan may endeavour to consolidate and foster China as an independent nation instead of preventing China from standing on her own feet, and cooperate with the consolidated China in emancipating the East Asiatic peoples and also in establishing permanent peace in this part of the world.
The first two methods, representing the way of aggression, are in fact utilitarian methods of settling the affair, entailing the least resistance and sacrifice in the short run at least.
Nonetheless, we are adopting the third method, which is fraught with the greatest difficulties and is the most difficult for the general public to understand for no other reason than that it is a stern dictum of the moral principles upon which the Japanese nation has been founded and that it is evidently borne out by the main current of world history.
On September 4, 1937, His Majesty the Emperor was pleased to decree in the Imperial Rescript granted on the occasion of the opening of the 72nd session of the Imperial Diet: "It has been Our constant desire that Our Empire and the Republic of China should work in unison in order to ensure the stability of East Asia, and thus attain the common prosperity of Our respective nations," graciously adding, "Now in the face of manifold difficulties, Our armed forces are
discharging their duty with loyalty and valour, to no other end than that of urging the Republic of China to reflect on its attitude, so that peace may be speedily restored in East Asia." This is the moral principle that has been faithfully followed by the Japanese subjects from the beginning through the height of the hostilities; it will be observed likewise until their end.
On the basis of this moral principle Japan not only regulates her own affairs, but also supports Mr. Wang, holding herself in readiness to follow the dictate of this moral principle in resolutely combating, without the least hesitation, those who arrogantly challenge Japan's cause both at home and abroad,
It is Heaven's will, so to speak, that Japan and China as neighbours in East Asia are so related as to share a common destiny in their rise and fall as nations, this fact being as obvious as the existence of the earth. It is also apparently a natural trend in history that the various nations within the Co-Prosperity Sphere of East Asia should become more and more organically related as civilization progresses. For this reason, Japan and China are destined to befriend each other instead of quarreling, and no man who has eyes to see and ears to hear ought to have the slightest doubt as to the fact that a new China can only be founded on the basis of peace and friendship with Japan and that no constructive purpose can be served by any attempt at saving China by opposing Japan.
For all this, we join Mr. Wang Ching-wei in deeply regretting that some of China's leaders should still refuse to listen to the rightful arguments favouring peace and friendship with Japan. Now in view of the recent trend of world events, changing their course as rapidly as a mountain stream, we can by no means afford to allow such an anachronistic state of affairs to exist in China and keep our East Asia indefinitely in the turmoil of civil wars. Therefore we have to wait, with a disinterested open-mindedness, for the Chungking influences to reflect upon themselves until they are awakened to the realities of the situation.
Moreover, the fact remains that all our actions are based on the principles of justice and honour, whatever our sympathies with the other nations of East Asia. We should by no means be induced to prefer material gains to moral aspirations, nor temporary makeshifts to the establishment of everlasting truth. The concrete criteria of the moral principles and truth applicable to the future of East Asia
have been defined in the Basic Treaty concluded between Japan and China in the autumn of last year and also in the joint declaration of Japan, China and Manchoukuo annexed thereto.
As for the question how, on the basis of these fair and equitable principles, to bring the hostilities in China to an end and relieve the four hundred million people in that country of the hardships they are now undergoing, it is essentially an internal problem of that nation, and as friends of China we are willing to extend our whole-hearted support to and cooperation with Mr. Wang Ching-wei, in whom we repose our unreserved confidence.
As you all know, war clouds now hover over the entire world, both east and west, where a new world order is being sought in accordance with the essential character of the human race against the old order based on predatory aggression. If there is at this juncture any nation or country that expects to be able to continue its existence with any merit in the future without making any sacrifice to that end, we cannot but pity its ignorance.
Of course, we are desirous of minimizing the disastrous effects of war. Japan and China are not the mere tools of other nations. Both Japan and China are as conscious of their own intentions as they should be. The two nations ought to be able to fight or make peace of their own free will, but in reality China is not free to follow her own intentions, simply because third Powers are constraining her in such a way that she has no will of her own in the true sense of the word. An independent country in the true sense of the term should have her own aims and intentions, and we are convinced that the true intentions of an independent China are now forming themselves amidst the smoke and dust of war through the instrumentality of Mr. Wang Ching-wei. If the Japanese and Chinese nations are spontaneously combined as the result, I can declare with full confidence that they will serve as the lever to pry up the new order of the world. The future of the new China will by no means be an eventless one. The waves of the Pacific are dashing high around Japan, but the march of events in world history will finally take its natural course whatever its vicissitudes in the short run. The fight for a true cause leads to only one end however hard or prolonged it may be. No one with a firm determination wavers during the fight however long it may last. As for the prospects of the conflict between Japan and China, we have been enabled to see clearly that it
will reach its height soon thanks to the efforts of Mr. Wang Ching-wei, although we may not be able easily to predict exactly how it will culminate. In this connection Japan is determined not to give up the fight before it is won. We have a bright future in store. With this assurance, let me conclude my speech of heartfelt thanks to Mr. Wang and his party for their present visit on the eve of their departure for home.