Yosuke Matsuoka： The Diplomat Pushing Japan to War
By Bu Ping
Yosuke Matsuoka， acting as Japan"s Foreign Minister for many years， had gone all out to push Japan on the path of war since the end of World War I， joined in Japan"s aggression against China and other Asian countries， and urged Japan to form a fascist alliance with Germany and Italy. After the war he was arrested as a war criminal suspect. However， only one month after being sued at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East， he died at a hospital， escaping the trial of justice.
Serving in the Foreign Ministry
Matsuoka was born in 1880 in Yamaguchi Prefecture， a hotbed of right-wing politicians in history. At age 11 he went to the US and studied at the University of Oregon from 1898 to 1902. After graduation he returned to Japan and served in the Foreign Ministry.
In 1904 he was sent to Shanghai as an alternate consul， and then to northeast China after the Japanese-Russian War. At that time Japan seized Lüshun and Dalian from Russia and established the Kwantung Office in charge of military and civil affairs there. Matsuoka became chief of its foreign section.
After World War I broke out， then Prime Minister Goto Shimpei advocated dispatching troops to Siberia， which was vigorously supported by Matsuoka. After the war， those tending to conduct talks with the US and the UK gradually dominated over the diplomatic circles. As a result， Matsuoka resigned from the Foreign Ministry in 1921.
Becoming a Dietman
One month after his resignation， recommended by then Senior General Giichi Tanaka， also his townsman， Matsuoka entered the South Manchurian Railroad Co. Ltd.， a state agency to maintain Japan"s colonial rule in northeast China.
In 1927 he was promoted vice president of the South Manchurian Railroad. Then the company drew up an ambitious railway construction plan， aiming to strengthen the control over this region.
After the collapse of Giichi Tanaka"s cabinet， Matsuoka resigned from the South Manchurian Railroad， and returned to Japan to become a Dietman in the government of the Seiyukai Party. In this capacity， he energetically advocated using force to settle the problems of Manchuria and Inner Mongolia.
After the September 18 Incident in 1931 Japan occupied northeast China and established a puppet regime of Manchukuo there. The Chinese government appealed to the League of Nations (LN). Matsuoka was sent as Japan"s chief delegate to an LN provisional meeting in Geneva. He resorted to sophistry to argue with delegates of other countries， claiming that "Japan was maintaining its national interests it gained in Manchuria after losing some 100，000 lives in the Japanese-Russian War."
Withdrawing from the League of Nations
Of all 43 countries that voted in the League of Nations in 1933， 42 recognized that China had full sovereign rights over the northeast， while only Japan voted for its armed occupation of that region. Immediately after the vote， Matsuoka made a statement that Japan could not accept the resolution adopted by the LN meeting， and later announced Japan"s withdrawal from the organization.
When he returned to Japan in April， Matsuoka was welcomed like a hero. We can thus see that he had unshirkable responsibility for Japan"s going to war eventually.
Signing anti-Communist pact
As a diplomat， Matsuoka had made great "contributions" to the establishment of the Germany-Italy-Japan military alliance based on their anti-Communist pact.
Soon after he returned from Geneva， Matsuoka became president of the South Manchurian Railroad， and continued preaching the aggression plan against China and hard-line diplomatic policies toward the US and the UK.
At that time， Nazi Germany broke away from the League of Nations too. The two fascist countries thus approached each other rapidly. Regarding the Soviet Union as a powerful threat to both， they concluded an anti-Communist pact in November 1936. Italy joined in the agreement the following year.
In July 1940 Fumimaro Konoye appointed Matsuoka Foreign Minister in his newly founded cabinet. Matsuoka said： "The top priority task at present is to strengthen relations with Germany and Italy." As Germany signed a non-aggression treaty with the USSR， he proposed to draw over the USSR to their side， so as to resist the US together.
Forming tripartite alliance
In order to lay a foundation for the establishment of the tripartite alliance， Matsuoka replaced some 40 ambassadors and envoys to exclude the pro-US and pro-UK elements from the Foreign Ministry. On September 27， Japan， Germany and Italy signed to enter into a military alliance. Matsuoka held a grand reception in Tokyo to celebrate it. In March 1941 he visited Berlin and called on Adolf Hitler. During his tenure of office， he went all out to trumpet the theory of a "Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere，" linking Japan"s foreign policy with its aggression and expansion.
Matsuoka paid a visit later to Moscow， and concluded a neutrality pact with the USSR in the hope of getting its collaboration. After Konoye stepped down， he continued negotiating with the US.
Matsuoka was one of the chief culprits responsible for pushing Japan to war. After Japan"s defeat， he was arrested in November 1945 as a war criminal suspect. The International Military Tribunal for the Far East commenced its trial on May 3， 1946. Matsuoka， a pulmonary tuberculosis patient， for his conditions worsened， didn"t appear in court as a defendant. He died on June 27 before his trial was completed.
