Friday, 31 March
Today Izvestia published that the Soviet Union has signed agreements with Japan as follows.
1) Japan signed the agreement that it would return the oil well and coal mine of Sakhalin.
2) The fishery agreement between the Soviet Union and Japan will be renewed for another five years. Besides the original clauses, the Soviet side published a quite lengthy explanatory note. It stated as follows: a) With regard to the coal mine and oil well, this was approved by the Soviet Union on 14 December 1925 to be run by the Japanese. The agreement stated that it would expire in 1970 but when the Soviet Union signed the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact with Japan in 1941, the Soviet Union suggested abolishing the agreement and Matsuoka Yōsuke (松岡洋右)[1] agreed to sort it out within six months. Japanese Ambassador Tōgō Shigenori (東郷茂徳)[2] also replied in writing that it would be settled within six months, because the Japanese Government believed strongly that the German landing tactics would win the war, so therefore they would not need to honour this promis. But, later on because of the Red army war record and the Allied military advancement, the Japanese Government proposed negotiations with regard to this during the autumn of last year. As a result, the treaty was signed between Lozovsky and Satō, and the coal and oil will be handed back 26 years in advance. The said ores and others were transferred to the Soviet Union ten days ago. b) The content of the fishery agreement between the Soviet Union and Japan also underwent amendments. It specified that before the end of the war several regions were banned from Japanese use and it banned Japanese and people from other nationalities from entering several regions.
All in all, we can see the Soviet Union’s international staus is stable, and it has handled diplomatic affairs with delicacy and concurrently thought of the allies’ wartime interests. With regard to Japanese-Soviet relations, both sides wanted to solve all problems based on the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact. Regarding this Izvestia also had a lengthy editorial. This thing matters a lot to us. I was afraid that:
1) the United States would try its best to help the Soviet Union and fight Germany on the assumption that the Soviet Union would join the war against Japan after the collapse of Germany. In the past, the perfunctory gestures of the Soviet Union towards Japan have been because the Soviet Union has had difficulty in fighting Germany’s main force and we understood it could not fight Japan at the same time. However, now that the German threat is over, there is no need to be perfunctory towards Japan. This move also implies that after the collapse of Germany the Soviet Union will stay neutral towards Japan, and this will be contrary to public expectation and the private sectors of the United States. It would certainly affect the American attitude towards the Soviet Union.
2) Japanese warlords could take this to boast about Japanese morale and Tōjō Hideki could relocate a section of the Kwantung Army to invade the Beijing-Wuhan and Guangdong-Wuhan Railways, which would facilitate direct communication with the Japanese armies in South China and Nanyang and they would then be free from the threat of the American navy.
3) There are many people in our country who are suspicious towards the Soviet Union and this move has added fuel to their suspicion, which will make my work here more difficult.
Since my arrival here this is the biggest blow and setback to me. But it is beyond my capability and power to change. I hope intensely that people in our country will strive for self-strengthening. It is a fantasy to expect others to help with our diplomacy. What I can do here is to work patiently and wait and see. I warned the people within the Embassy that we should not express any opinion with regard to what has happened.
[1] Matsuoka Yōsuke (1880-1946) was a Japanese senior official.
[2] Tōgō Shigenori (1882-1950) was a Japanese diplomat.