20 Feb. 1946 Q. After Stahmer returned to Germany upon the occasion to which you have just referred, when did he thereafter go back to Tokyo and in what capacity did he then serve? A. He returned as Ambassador to China sometime around the end of 1941. Q. To what Government in China did he go? A. The Wang Ching Wei. 2 Q. Who entertained him besides Ribbentrop and Hitler? A. About four receptions: once by Hitler, twice by Ribbentrop, and once by the Japanese Embassy - no, Ribbentrop was three times. Q. How many conversations did MATSUOKA have with Ribbentrop while he was there? A. Three or four times, I believe, in addition to meeting at dinners and receptions. Q. How many conversations did MATSUOKA have with Ribbentrop while he was there? A. Three or four times, I believe, in addition to meeting at dinners and receptions. Q. When MATSUOKA left Berlin on his way back to Japan, how did he travel? A. He went directly to Moscow and back to Japan from there. Q. Did he, for example, have a special train when he left Berlin? A. He had a special train as far as the border in any case. Q. And did you go with him to the border? A. I went as far as Frankfurt on the Oder with him. Q. You knew that he was then enroute to Moscow for the purpose of trying to obtain a Non-Aggression Pact between Russia and Japan didn’t you? A. Yes. Q. And while you were on this train with him you had some discussion with him relative to that proposed proposition? A. Yes. Q. Tell us what you said and what MATSUOKA said during those conversations on that train. A. If you particularly desire me to speak about this at this moment, I shall do so, but I believe the narrative would go better if I include it where I was intending to include it. Q. I want you to repeat it in your narrative as you had originally planned, but for my purposes at this time I would like just a brief statement in the record now relative to and in explanation of the conversation to which I have just referred. A. Although I wish to go back and explain more fully about these matters which have a direct bearing upon what I said to MATSUOKA in the train, in substance it was that while Germany had seemed to desire Japanese-Russian friendly relations, conditions at the time were changing in regard to German-Russian relations and so it would be best to think things over carefully before making a 2 This was a puppet government based in Nanking which was set up by the Japanese after the Invasion of China in 1937. 116