Glorious Mission 1937

It is obvious to all that Japan was restricted and developed after World War I. First, the United States advocated the abolition of the Japan-British alliance in order to seize world hegemony. The special rights and interests of Japan in Manchuria and Mongolia stipulated in the treaty and the immigration prohibition bill enacted by the United States all cast a shadow on Japan's future.

It is not difficult to see that the purpose of these measures is to prevent Japan's development, especially to prevent Japan's development to the mainland.

In addition, after the First World War, as an inevitable economic phenomenon after the war, overproduction was caused in the world market, which led to the sharpening of international trade competition.

As a backward capitalist country, Japan, with the leap forward in industrialization during the World War II, increasingly needed to import materials from overseas and open up markets overseas, so it was also involved in the already sharpened international trade competition.A poor country like Japan, which is not rich in materials and funds, has no choice but to seek a miserable way out by relying on cheap labor and dumping abroad.

However, in order to fight against dumping, European and American countries have taken measures to build high tariff barriers among each other.Japan had to be gradually squeezed out from world markets such as India and southern markets.

The world economic crisis that occurred in the fourth year of the Showa era (1929) also dealt a heavy blow to the Japanese economy, especially the poverty in rural fishing villages was even more appalling.As a result of this crisis, the tariff war in the world has intensified. Led by Britain and the United States, countries have increasingly strengthened their industrial protection policies, and finally at the Ottawa Conference in Showa 7 (1932).Developed to form the so-called bloc economy of the British Empire.

In this way, the free flow of labor, materials and capital between countries has finally been blocked.The doctrine of national self-determination adopted at the Versailles Peace Conference can only work if it is guaranteed by a normal international economic order.However, as mentioned above, when the international economy is blocked by blocs, the existence of a country like Japan with overpopulation, poor resources, and insufficient funds is fundamentally threatened.

The Japanese are human beings, and they have their own emotions.The various actions of Western countries are completely playing with Japan as a fool.Just a normal country would be outraged by this behavior.In fact, this is also the case. After World War I, the relationship between Japan and Western capitalist countries fell to a freezing point.

Today, the Japanese do not have the slightest liking for European and American countries, so they seized the colonies of Western countries in Southeast Asia.The Japanese have no psychological burden at all.And it will get more support from the people.But compared to that.Not to mention that the danger of attacking the Soviet Union is too great, and there are not many people who support it in the country, so it is basically unnecessary to consider how to choose the Japanese government.

The Japanese rejected the German government's request.Although Japan is an ally with Germany, there is no need for Japan to invest in the future of Japan for this "friendship", which is irrational and even more unrealistic.

The Chinese side was also extremely dissatisfied with the signing of a neutral peace treaty between Japan and the Soviet Union.When the news came, there was an uproar in China, and at the same time it was even more gloomy.As we all know, after the war between China and Japan, especially after Japan captured all of China's external ports, the only country that can and is willing to assist China is the Soviet Union.

So far, the Soviet Union has provided military loans to China of 2 million US dollars, trained 10206 Chinese aviation personnel, and the Chinese government has purchased 1285 aircraft from the Soviet Union.Among them, there are 777 destroyers, 328 CE medium-range bombers, 30 IIE long-range bombers, 3 TE-50 heavy bombers, and 100 trainer aircraft.In addition, there are engines, fuel, aviation ammunition and so on.

From December 1937, when they secretly participated in the war over Nanjing, to the end of 12, they basically withdrew from various airports. A total of more than 1939 Soviet volunteers directly participated in 700 battles to defend Nanjing, Wuhan, Nanchang, Chengdu, Chongqing, Lanzhou and other places. More than a thousand sorties were dispatched, hundreds of Japanese planes were shot down, and more than 25 Japanese ships of various types were sunk.This is only the amount of weapons and equipment that the Soviet Union assisted the National Government. If the northern part of the country is added, the number and scale will be even greater.

It can be said that before the United States and Britain officially aided China, the only ally of the Soviet-style China was the nanny, but once the neutrality treaty was signed, the nanny was gone. Therefore, the signing of the Soviet-Japanese neutrality treaty had a great impact on China, even concerning China The future of the war.

According to the agreement between the Soviet Union and Japan, the Soviet Union would switch from supporting China to a neutral position in the Sino-Japanese War in the future. This was a retrogression of the Soviet Union on the issue of Sino-Soviet relations.At the same time, the supplies from the Soviet Union to China dropped sharply and were gradually suspended, which weakened China's military strength against Japan.

Therefore, this treaty was a political blow to China's War of Resistance, which hurt the anti-Japanese enthusiasm of the Chinese people and damaged the image of the Soviet Union.This treaty not only aroused the national government's worries about the future of the War of Resistance and the dislike of the Soviet government, but also caused other parties in China to express dissatisfaction with the "treaty".

Just as Japanese Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka said to the German ambassador to the Soviet Union on the day the treaty was signed: "This treaty is very important to Japan. Force China to kneel for peace; at the same time, Japan's position against Britain and the United States is strengthened."

Because of this, the Japanese government was "very happy" with the treaty, and Prime Minister Konoe quickly obtained the emperor's approval. Fumma Konoe stated in a letter to Japanese Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka: "Because this treaty eased the The Army's long-held urge to fight Russia brought hope of bringing Chiang Kai-shek to its knees and making the southward path safer. Perhaps even the American government would become a little more lenient."

其实按照日本政府的想法，最好是签订《苏日互不侵犯条约》，时尚他们也是向着这个方向努力的。一开始日本驻苏大使东乡茂德在同苏联外交人民委员莫洛托夫会谈时提出了第一份日苏中立协定草案,内容包括:“第一条 1.缔约双方确认,两国相互关系的基础是1925年1月20日在北京签订的关于日苏相互关系基本原则的条约。2.缔约双方应维持和平与友好关系,相互尊重领土完整。第二条 如缔约一方,尽管是爱好和平的行动,遭到第三国或其他几个国家的攻击,另一方在整个冲突期间将保持中立。”

Later, when Ambassador Togo called on the Soviet diplomatic staff, he claimed that the new Japanese cabinet headed by Konoe hoped to conclude the Japan-Soviet neutrality agreement as soon as possible, and requested to study the draft agreement he had handed over quickly and give a reply.

But the Soviets, after analyzing the content proposed by Japan, believed that in terms of its content, the agreement would not only be a neutrality treaty, but would actually be a treaty of non-aggression and non-participation in hostile alliances.Furthermore, the Soviet government deems it necessary to state that the interests of the Soviet Union and Japan, including the neutrality pact, require first and foremost the settlement of certain very important issues in Soviet-Japanese relations; A serious obstacle to improving mutual relations between the two countries.

Subsequently, in its reply, the Soviet government analyzed in detail the specific provisions of the draft neutrality agreement proposed by the Japanese government, pointing out that when the Soviet Union concluded a neutrality treaty with Japan, it might, to a certain extent, deteriorate its significant interests with China and in the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea. relations with a series of countries that could cause serious, not only economic, losses to the Soviet Union.The Soviet Union wanted to reduce losses, so Ambassador Dongxiang's motion was shelved.

At the end of April 1940, the new Japanese ambassador to the Soviet Union, Miji Takekawa, held talks with Molotov again. Meiji Tsunekawa said that the Japanese government hoped to conclude with the Soviet Union a "Soviet-Japanese Nonaggression Treaty" similar to the "Soviet-German Nonaggression Pact". treaty".All disputed issues between the two countries should be resolved after the conclusion of the non-aggression pact.Takekawa believed that the neutrality treaty was not sufficient because it did not speak clearly enough about the issue of mutual non-aggression.

At the same time, Jian Chuanmei sent the Soviet side a draft of the "Japan-Soviet Non-Aggression Treaty Draft", the specific content includes: "Article 10 The two contracting parties promise to respect each other's territorial sovereignty and will not take any aggressive action against the other party, regardless of the nature of the action. alone, or jointly with one or more third countries; Article 5. When one of the contracting parties becomes the target of aggression by one or more third countries, the other contracting party undertakes not to support these third countries in any way; Article [-]. The governments of the contracting parties will maintain close contact in the future in order to exchange information or provide advice on issues that are detrimental to the common interests of the two governments. Article [-] Either party to the contracting party undertakes not to join any group of countries that directly or indirectly opposes the other party; Disputes and conflicts on any issues will be settled peacefully by means of friendly exchange of views or by establishing a conflict mediation committee when necessary; Article [-] This treaty will take effect from the date of signature and will be valid for [-] years. If the treaty is not abolished within one year before the expiry date of this treaty, the validity period of this treaty will be automatically extended for [-] years."

But the Soviet government was not satisfied with this draft, so Molotov pointed out in his reply to Vice-Ambassador Jianchuan: "If the Japanese government is not prepared to propose the issue of returning the territories lost by the Soviet Union earlier—South Sakhalin Island and the Kuril Islands, then What is suitable for discussion is to conclude a neutrality treaty, not a non-aggression treaty, because the territorial issue may not be involved in the conclusion of a neutrality treaty, and it is only necessary to cancel Japan's concession in North Sakhalin to reach an agreement." (To be continued. .)