The next day's League of Nations meeting was still chaotic and seemed no different from usual.
But when Sir Lytton began to present his investigation report, everyone realized that today's meeting was completely different from yesterday.
Yesterday we discussed the Bactrian Valley War. The two parties participating in the war were Bolivia and Paraguay. After all, their influence in the League of Nations was limited.
By the way, Paraguay’s representative to the League of Nations, Juan Silva, did not attend the meeting today. It is said that he left Geneva overnight last night. Paraguay may withdraw from the League of Nations as Juan Silva said, but it is such a big deal.
This matter still had no impact on today's meeting, and representatives from various countries were not even interested in discussing this matter.
What we want to discuss today is Japan's military expansion. Sir Lytton's report is likely to determine the future direction of the situation in the Far East.
Looking at the posture of Southern African representative Sean Ferguson and all the representatives of the Southern African Union, if Kijuro Shitahara dares to be as weird as before today, then maybe the League of Nations will stage an all-out show of force that is rare in a century.
Probably Kijuro Shitahara also knew that Sir Lytton's report was not very beneficial to Japan.
So when Sir Lytton began to present his report, Kijuro Shitahara looked serious, and his face was as dark as the color of his shirt.
Sean Ferguson also had a serious expression, his brows just furrowed. He was holding Sir Lytton's report in his hand, and he seemed to be very dissatisfied with Sir Lytton's report.
Equally serious were Sir Eric Drummond and Joseph Aveno. After leaving office, Sir Eric Drummond still served as the British Plenipotentiary to the League of Nations, but his mind was not on Sir Lytton's report.
Instead, he looked at Stanley Bruce with squinted eyes, obviously dissatisfied with Stanley Bruce getting too close to southern Africans.
Joseph Aveno was communicating in a low voice with Jean Lested, Deputy Secretary-General of the League of Nations beside him.
I don’t know why, but Aveno, who had just served as Secretary-General of the League of Nations for less than half a year, wanted to give his position to Jean Lested. He had even discussed this issue with Paris, but Paris did not agree because
Jean Lester is Irish.
Sir Lytton, who was about to speak, felt bitter in his heart. When he wrote this report, he tried his best not to involve personal feelings and wrote it based on the principle of "fairness and impartiality".
It is a pity that Sir Lytton is not the Duan Shui Master after all. He is an Englishman and he also has a position on the issue of Japanese expansion.
"After the Far East crisis broke out, I led a special investigation team to arrive in the Far East on April 15. After nearly a month and a half of careful investigation, the special investigation team confirmed some facts. First, Japan's war behavior was wrong and it must correct its mistakes." Li
Lytton has a profound background. His father once served as the British Governor-General in India. Lytton was born in India. He served in the Admiralty during the World War. In 1919, he entered the Privy Council. The following year, he transferred to the Department of Indian Affairs as Parliamentary Secretary. Two years later, he left for
He served as Governor-General of Bengal, and during the Imperial Conference, Lytton briefly served as Governor-General of India.
Look at his resume, this is a real rocket-like way to rise. Winston and Neville are both weak.
Just when Sir Lytton said "Japan must correct its mistakes", Kijuro Shitahara exploded instantly.
"Please allow me to interrupt." Kijuro Utahara was full of power. After all, Japan is one of the four permanent members of the League of Nations.
"Not allowed!" Sean Ferguson had been waiting for Kijuro Shitahara to speak. He said that Southern Africa is also a member of the council, although it is a non-permanent member.
"You are not qualified to speak on behalf of the Secretary-General," Kijuro Shitahara was furious.
"You are disrupting the normal process of the meeting." Sean Ferguson was equally angry. Liton had not finished reading his report, and it was very impolite to interrupt at will.
"I am qualified to speak on behalf of Japan." Kijuro Shitahara was very dissatisfied with Litton's report. This was Hong Guoguo's favoritism.
"That will have to wait at least until Lord Lytton reads the report of the special investigation team." Sean Ferguson did not give Kijuro Shitahara a chance to speak at all.
The two people kept bickering, and Li Dun was helpless at the speaker's table.
If you want to quarrel, can you wait until I finish reading the report?
"Bang bang bang" Aveno banged the hammer desperately to maintain order. On weekdays, all of them looked like well-dressed gentlemen, but once their own interests were involved, they immediately turned into street hooligans.
Kijuro Shitahara and Sean Ferguson were finally able to restrain themselves. Although they kept their mouths shut, their expressions looked like two angry little roosters.
This metaphor is not very vivid, two little roosters that together are over a hundred years old.
It's against the law.
"Lord Lytton, please continue your report." Aveno finally understood Sir Drummond's mood.
I have the heart to curse.
"Okay." Sir Lytton calmed down and looked at the report in his hand. He felt that the scene just now would happen again: "Japan's military expansion is based on many reasons. One of them is Russia's influence in the Far East, which makes the Japanese government
interests are affected”
"Wait a minute, why does Japan's expansion in the Far East have anything to do with us, Russia?" Vasily Yevich, Russia's plenipotentiary representative to the League of Nations, looked surprised. He could be shot while lying down like this?
"Humph?" Kishiro Shitahara sneered. If you want to talk about the reasons for Japan's external expansion, everyone here is responsible for it.
"What are you moaning about?" Vasily Yevich also sneered. Japan and Russia also share their grievances and debts, and Japan only stepped on Russia's corpse to become one of the great powers.
Speaking of which, everyone here is also responsible for the naval battle that caused a devastating blow to the Russian Navy twenty years ago.
But everyone has to look forward, and let’s not talk about the past. If there is a chance, Vasily would like to fight the Japanese again.
For diplomats, the League of Nations was their battlefield.
Just when Kijuro Shigehara was about to speak, Aveno started banging the hammer again.
Tired.
"The outbreak of the Far East crisis was also affected by the squeeze on Japanese goods." Sir Lytton was also tired. This time, no one interrupted him. Japan's biggest competitor in the Far East market is the United States.
Fortunately, the United States did not join the League of Nations.
However, Japan's second largest competitor is Southern Africa, but Sean is obviously not in the mood to argue with Kijuro Shitahara now, and has the energy to save it for the voting later.
"So to sum up, the special investigation team believes that Japan should return to the boundary line before the outbreak of the Far East crisis, and the relevant disputed areas should be regulated by the international
Joint jurisdiction of the alliance." Sir Lytton read out his report as quickly as possible, and what happened next was beyond Sir Lytton's control.
"There are no disputed areas, so there is no co-management by the International Alliance." Kijuro Shitahara finally had a chance to speak.
"Co-management is a good result." Sean was very satisfied. The League of Nations co-managed it. To put it bluntly, it was
can not say.
"This is our best choice." Stanley Bruce smiled with a smile on his face, as long as the southern African father is satisfied.
"We still need to discuss the method." Sir Drummond finally opened his eyes, saying that if Japan's expansion is restricted, it will also be a good thing for the British Empire.
After all, the Far East is a large market with more than 400 million people. Before the outbreak of the World War, Britain also had huge interests in the Far East. However, during the World War, Britain had to go all out to deal with Germany. Japan took the opportunity to expand its sphere of influence. Britain's sphere of influence
It has become smaller and smaller.
"There is no need to discuss anything at all. The status quo in the Far East must be maintained." Kijuro Shitahara firmly disagreed. How can he spit out the meat that is in his mouth?
"The objection is invalid, we can vote now." Sean sneered. There were more than 40 countries in the audience, but Japan was the only country to oppose it, haha.
"It's okay to vote," old god Vasily said, saying that the model of the League of Nations is really in line with the Russian people's appetite.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Stanley Bruce couldn't wait. There were not many opportunities to bully others so blatantly.
Especially for Japan, the third largest naval power in the world.
One thing to say is that no matter how isolated Japan is in the League of Nations, Japan, with its 300,000-ton battleships, has indeed made regional countries suffer.
Although Australia is still a Commonwealth country, Australia is too close to Japan. As Britain continues to strategically shrink and its sphere of influence continues to shrink, the Australians are very panicked.
Otherwise, Australians would not be so considerate and tightly hugging the lap of southern African dads.
"This report is very ridiculous and there is no fairness at all. Therefore, no matter what the result of the vote is, the Empire of Japan will never recognize it." Although Kijuro Shitahara seemed calm on the surface, he was actually very panicked in his heart. Japan sought to
Have decades of efforts to leave Asia and join Europe finally failed?
When everyone agreed, the objection of Kijuro Shitahara alone was insignificant.
So vote.
The League of Nations finally showed its efficient side this time. Secret ballots were too slow, so they simply voted by show of hands.
The result was in line with Stanley Bruce's "prediction": forty-two countries, forty votes in favor, and only two countries did not raise their hands.
This result made Kijuro Shitahara overjoyed. Even in such a situation, there are still people who support Japan. I am not alone!
"I, I, we, Siam, abstained." In the corner of the venue, the Siamese representative did not raise his hand, but he stood up and stammered.
Very good, forty votes in favor, one abstention, and one vote against.
Kijuro Hatahara did not speak, silently packed his things, stood up, bowed slightly to Aveno on the rostrum, and left the conference hall directly.
At the beginning of 1931, Japan withdrew from the League of Nations.
