21. The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere was announced in 1940
During a radio address to the Japanese people on June 29, 1940, Foreign Minister Hachiro Arita announced a policy which was an expansion of the New Order in East Asia than in effect. Arita, who was a general in the Japanese Army, envisioned using the Army to create the “sphere”, which would unite all of Asia under the rule of the Emperor, excluding the western nations from their colonies and territories. The intent of the Japanese military was to use the populations and industrial/agricultural capabilities of the lands which it occupied to produce materials to support Japan’s war effort. It was little concerned with the prosperity of the nations which were forced into Japan’s Empire.
At the same time, the Co-Prosperity Sphere was being formulated within the Japanese government negotiations were underway to join in an alliance with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. The Japanese prepared, but kept to themselves, proposals to present to their future allies, once the Tripartite Pact became a fact. These included a dividing line which would separate the Asian landmass available for Japanese expansion and the part which was available to the Europeans. The Japanese envisioned extending their Empire, through a series of conflicts, across the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and even as far from Japan as the sugar-producing islands in the Caribbean.
