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Statement by the Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs (Hirota) to the Budget Committee of the Lower House of the Japanese Diet on March 4, 1938
If there be grounds for the suspicion that the United States, in its relations with Japan, is making a particular effort to expand its armaments on the Pacific Coast I am sorry that the United States feels this way. It is Japan’s idea as the central support of peace in [Page 452] the Far East to work for the security and progress of East Asia just as the United States is working for peace on the American continent as the central figure there. If both parties understand their respective positions it seems to me that there can be no cause for conflict. We hope to make the United States understand this point and thereby bring about more friendly relations.