Chapter 6 Konoe once again forms a cabinet, and the expansion of the war is imperative

Konoe Wen (1891-1945), a young man who succeeded his father as Duke. From 1916 to 1936, he successively served as a member of the House of Lords, deputy speaker and speaker, and began to approach the military department. He became prime minister in June 1937, and launched the July 7th Incident on July 7, provoking a war of aggression against China in an all-round way. In January 1938, the "Guardian Statement" threatening the surrender of the Kuomintang government was issued; in April of the same year, the "National General Mobilization Law" was promulgated; in November, the Declaration of "Building a New Order in East Asia" was issued; He further lured Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei to surrender, and attempted to legitimize Japan's occupation of Northeast China and other regions. In January 1939, he was forced to resign and became the Speaker of the Privy Council. In June 1940, he resigned from the position of Speaker of the Privy Council and vigorously promoted the fascist "New System Movement".

In July 1940, Fumi Konoe formed a cabinet for the second time. In September, the Japanese army stationed in the northern part of French Indochina, forming a tripartite alliance of Japan, Germany, and Italy. In November, it concluded the "Basic Treaty between Japan and China" with the Wang puppet regime. Xin Guo, oppressed Chiang Kai-shek to surrender, and expanded to the south, but the confrontation with the United States intensified.In order to smooth the relationship between Japan and the United States, seek to get closer to the Soviet Union and prevent the United States from participating in the war, Konoe decided that the Japanese government should start negotiations with the United States.Because Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka advocated declaring war on the Soviet Union in conjunction with the German-Soviet War and opposed making concessions to the United States, the negotiations between Japan and the United States made no progress. In July 1941, Konoe Cabinet General resigned.

After the Konoe cabinet was formed for the second time, on July 22, 1940, the Konoe cabinet issued the "Basic National Policy Outline", the fundamental policy of which is: "The kingdom of the imperial country is Bayiyu (the unified world in the Japanese imperial thought) Based on the spirit of nation-building, world peace should be established. Based on this, we should first take the imperial country as the core and consolidate the combination of Japan, Manchuria, and China as a basis for building a new Greater East Asia. The root of order." On August 1, 1940, Matsuoka Yosuke issued the "Diplomatic Declaration of the Emperor's Way", stating: "According to the great spirit of our Emperor's Way, we must first establish a 'Kingdom of Japan, Manchuria, and China'. "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere', and then declare a powerful imperial way to contribute to the establishment of a just world peace." This is the first time that the Japanese government has explicitly used the term "Great East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere".

With the outbreak of the Pacific War, Japan's ambitions expanded wildly. The shadow of the "Great East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" not only includes Northeast Asian countries such as North Korea and China, but also covers Southeast Asian countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Cambodia. The Japanese army even began to covet India. , Australia and other countries. The so-called "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" is to use "civilized" Japan as the "leader" to govern "non-civilized China" and other Asian countries, and to establish a new Asian colonial empire with Japan as the colonizer.Asian countries will become Japan's political vassals, economic raw material suppliers, and cultural servants. An oriental "collective authority personality" such as the "Asian leader" was finally solidified and institutionalized after a series of ideological distortions on the basis of "civilization expansion".

Since then, Japan has believed that it has an "obligation" and "right" to "liberate" the "backward people" in Asia, and it does not hesitate to use war or other forms of violence to promote it. This has become the mainstream consciousness of Japanese politics, and through extensive National education and public opinion propaganda are accepted by the general public in Japan.Under the belief of the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere", many citizens firmly believe that only the Japanese can make China build well. Many Japanese soldiers may never have thought of killing before joining the army, but under the "noble" name of "nationalism", "racial superiority", "liberation of Asia" and other "noble" names, they would never commit any brutal killings And sleepless nights.They think that this is working for the country and great responsibilities. They perfectly unify the hatred of neighboring countries with the pleasure of being cannon fodder, and combine the prospects of the nation with the conquest of "the sick man of East Asia" hits linked.

In September 1940, the three fascist countries of Japan, Germany and Italy signed the "Germany, Italy and Japan Triple Alliance Treaty" in Berlin, the capital of Germany, expressing that Japan recognized and respected the leading position of Germany and Italy in the "New European Order". Both countries recognize and respect Japan's leadership in the "Greater East Asian Order".All these situations show that China's war of resistance is already facing a very severe test.