ABSTRACT
A number of conferences were held in the early part of the Tanaka régime, partly in order to test the sentiments of the more influential civilian elements, including, of course, the great commercial interests. The most important of these was the Far Eastern Conference, which met on June 1, 1927, when General Muto, Commander-in-Chief of the Kwantung Army, insisted that there must be a more thorough exploitation of Manchuria and Mongolia. The Conference practically decided the fate of Manchuria, so far as regards its definite detachment from China, though the exact method still depended on the possibilities of opposition from the Kuomintang, and such picturesque details as the restoration of a Manchu Empire were improvised later.
