The Foreign Minister, at whom the question was directed, made an attempt to evade the issue by declaring that the matter was one primarily concerning Manchuokuo Jand it was therefore incumbent on] the respective foreign nations to deal directly with Hsinking, inmating by this that they should recognise the new State if they] wanted to trade with it.
This answer was entirely unsatssfactory to Mr. Kato, He said] that, while Mr. Hirota's explanation' was interesting, it was, in point of fact, wrong. He sardonically reminded the Foreign Minis-iter that Japan had assured the world that Manchoukuo's doors would be kept open, and also called that the new State's Foreign Minister had done likewise, having expressly stated that [choukuo would, as wa the case! [during the the under the adi respect the principle of the open door and equal opportunity. Accordingly, Mr. Kato asked was it Ret incumbent on Manchuokuo to open its doors and accord equal opportunity to all nations, whether they reedgnised the new State or}
Mr. Hirota endeavouring to evade the question by promising to do whatever he could to persuade Marchoukuo to respect the open door principle. This, naturally, made matters worse, for it merely enabled the questioner to ask, whether this was not an admission by|that the open door principle was} not being heeded at present,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.