Editing Anti-Comintern Pact (section)

=== Approval by the Japanese Privy Council and by Adolf Hitler ===
The Anti-Comintern Pact required the approval of the [[Privy Council of Japan]] to allow Japanese accession to the treaty. Prime Minister Hirota had expressed his personal relief upon hearing the treaty draft's conclusion on 23 October 1936, and compared the achievement of the IJA in its advancement of the Anti-Comintern Pact to the IJN's success in forging the [[Anglo-Japanese Alliance|1902 Anglo-Japanese Alliance]]. The elder Japanese statesman [[Saionji Kinmochi]], last of the [[genrō]], had disagreed with the Japanese government's diplomatic step and denounced the Anti-Comintern Pact as exclusively useful to Germany and as without benefit for Japan. Kinmochi instead would have preferred a diplomatic course more in line with Japanese public opinion and geography, both of which made a positive relationship with UK and USA desirable. However, Kinmochi's critical stance remained unheard in the Privy Council.<ref name="Ohata-1976" />{{Rp|35}}

In the view of the proponents of the treaty within Japan, spearheaded by the IJA, Japan was militarily threatened by the Soviet Union's meddling in China, just as Germany was threatened by Soviet support for France and Czechoslovakia. Furthermore, both countries feared subversion by communist forces. This, as a result, made Germany and Japan natural allies against the Soviet Union and the Comintern. The opponents, who gathered around the IJN, cited the likelihood that the Anti-Comintern Pact would increase rather than decrease the threat posed by the USSR and that there would be considerable domestic resistance against the agreement. Ultimately, the supporters won out in the discussions that took place on 13 November and 18 November,<ref name="Ohata-1976" />{{Rp|35}} and the Privy Council gave the treaty its unanimous support on 25 November 1936.<ref name="Stratman-1970" />{{Rp|25}}

On the German side, all that was required for German accession to the pact was Hitler's approval, which was given quickly, and subsequently supported by a wave of anti-communist propaganda in the state-controlled German press.<ref name="Stratman-1970" />{{Rp|25}}