On the issue of Japanese-Soviet diplomatic cooperation on the regulation of bilateral relations on the eve of the Great Patriotic War

The defeat suffered by the Japanese aggressors in the fall of 1939 at the Khalkhin Gol River, as well as the conclusion of the Soviet-German non-aggression treaty, forced the Japanese ruling circles to reconsider their policy towards the USSR, including on the issue of clarifying the border between the People’s Republic of China and Manchukuo. However, in January 1940, the work of the commission on clarifying the border between the People’s Republic of China and Manchukuo reached a dead end. The Soviet Government considered it impossible to negotiate a new fishing convention until this issue was resolved. Negotiations continued, but to no avail. The situation began to change gradually in the middle of 1940, due to the German occupation of Holland and Belgium, the surrender of France, and the undermining of Britain’s position. The vast colonial possessions of Western European countries: French Indochina, Dutch India and other territories turned out to be helpless. As a result of the events at Khalkhin Gol, Japan was forced to admit that a serious additional build-up of force was required to attack the USSR. Aggression towards the south promised easier successes. So, in French Indochina, the metropolitan troops numbered only about 50 thousand people, and they were now unable to receive any assistance from France. Tokyo decided to take advantage of the situation in the region. Having decided to focus its main efforts on the “southern” direction in the near future, the Japanese government began to show interest in stabilizing its position in the “northern” direction by diplomatic means.