March 13.
Of the wealth of comment which has been made concerning the visit of Mr. Yosuke Matsuoka, Japanese Foreign Minister, to Europe the point has been missed concerning the strangeness of the whole affair. Hitler when dealing with other countries, with the exception of Russia, has invariably insisted upon their representatives going to Germany to receive instructions either from himself, or Ribbentrop. Mussolini, it is true has met Hitler in the Brenner Pass, but when it is necessary to give instructions Count Ciano has! gone more often to Berlin than Ribbentrop has journeyed to Rome. In the circumstances it] is somewhat strange that Mr. Matsuoka, representing possibly the only equal partner in the Axis, should be travelling to Berlin and Rome, instead of the Cerman Foreign Minister going to Japan. It is all the stranger when It is remembered that' Hitler has nothing whatever to give Japan save perhaps his sympathy in her endeavour to establish the alleged "New order" in East Asia, and it would surely have been more in keeping with the dignity of the Japanese Government if the people who wanted something had travelled to Tokyo, than for the Japanese re~ presentative to go seeking to know what benefits Japan could confer upon the Axis. It will be excusable, therefore, if the world at large comes to believe that even Japan, through German intrigues, has been brought toa false belief in her inferiority to Germany.
Hitler would undoubtedly like to persuade Japan through Mr. Matsuoka of the desirability of Japan at once entering the war on the side of the Axis. Tt would tend to benefit him in a way which he is completely unable to return, and if the trip results in the Japanese being led even further up the garden path than they have at the present moment no one will be at all surprised. The whole trouble is that overweening ambitions are at any rate for the moment blinding the eyes of the extremists in control at Tokyo as to where Japan's best interests lie. The puzzle why Mr. Matsuoka should make this trip at all is further complicated by the fact that Admiral Nomura has been sent to Washing ton for the purpose of promoting a better understanding between America and Japan. How can he possibly hope to succeed if the actions of the Japanese Foreign Minister are so completely at variance with the assurances that the larier has recently given on the subject of Japan's relations with the United States?
Much will, therefore, depend upon the decisions which are reached between Mr. Matsuoka, Hitler, and Mussolini, But there is another aspect of the matter which is of considerable interest. It will be remembered that one of the inducements offered Japan was the exercise of German influence in Moscow for the purpose of securing a beter understanding between Tokyo and the Soviet. Despite the despatch of a special Japanese Ambassador to carry on negotia~ tions at Moscow, "nothing—tangible.hhos.-resulted up to the' present, and, if the Germans have exercised their good offices with the Kremlin, they have been productive of precisely nothing. If, therefore, Mr. Mat~ Suoka stops over at' Moscow to find out what is the matter, it will, in the cireumstances, be understandable.' It is necessary for him to know why Germany has failed to keep this particular promise, It is either because she has not made sufficient attempts nor brought the proper influence to bear, because Germany does not possess the influence in Moscow which Hitler would like the world to believe she wields. 'The chances are that Stalin fully realizes that Hitler can never play the part of an honest broker, and that there is no real trust ente tained' by the Kremlin of Hitler and his associates. That Mr, Matsuoka should have decided to visit Moscow to investigate the reasons for failure to arrive at a better relationship between Russia and Japan is per-factly comprehensible, und may prove to him some sort of test as to the real strength of the Axis, but that he should have decided to visit Rome and Berlin, instead of insisting that the Foreign Ministers of Germany and Italy should have come to him in Tokyo can~ not, in any way be conducive of Japanese dignity. It seems, in the circumstances, to be a mistake of the first magnitude, and Indicative of an eagerness to throw in the lot of Japan with the other partners of an Axis, one partner of which has been severely defeated on all fronts, and the other of which faces something similar with, or without the assistance of Japan.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.