Volkodav
I really should change my personal text
- Joined
- 28 March 2014
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This appeared in a RAAF historical newsletter and I have been desperately looking for public domain verification of this.
The proposal was made by Sir John Latham https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/latham-sir-john-greig-7104, then Minister for Japan, to the Advisory War Council, with the aim of filling shortages / needs of the RAAF, as well as encouraging Japan to oppose Germany.
"Legislation was passed in 1940 to enable Latham to become Australia's first minister to Japan while still chief justice. He had a long-standing interest in Japan and was better informed about it than almost any of his contemporaries, but he did not reach Tokyo until the close of 1940 after Japan had concluded a pact of mutual assistance with the Axis powers, and his mission was accordingly constricted. He 'spoke with firmness and frankness' to successive Japanese foreign ministers on the 'hope for friendly relations and the resolution to resist attempts at Japanese domination'. In September 1941 he left Japan for consultations in Singapore, but fell ill and was back in Melbourne when the Pacific War began."
This is incredibly interesting to me, I have no doubt the recommendation was made, I just can't currently find a sharable reference to it. What is intriguing, is whether Japan would have been receptive to this had the recommendation been accepted in Australia.
The proposal was made by Sir John Latham https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/latham-sir-john-greig-7104, then Minister for Japan, to the Advisory War Council, with the aim of filling shortages / needs of the RAAF, as well as encouraging Japan to oppose Germany.
"Legislation was passed in 1940 to enable Latham to become Australia's first minister to Japan while still chief justice. He had a long-standing interest in Japan and was better informed about it than almost any of his contemporaries, but he did not reach Tokyo until the close of 1940 after Japan had concluded a pact of mutual assistance with the Axis powers, and his mission was accordingly constricted. He 'spoke with firmness and frankness' to successive Japanese foreign ministers on the 'hope for friendly relations and the resolution to resist attempts at Japanese domination'. In September 1941 he left Japan for consultations in Singapore, but fell ill and was back in Melbourne when the Pacific War began."
This is incredibly interesting to me, I have no doubt the recommendation was made, I just can't currently find a sharable reference to it. What is intriguing, is whether Japan would have been receptive to this had the recommendation been accepted in Australia.
