post until 1939. Despite his admiration of the Italian fascist movement, Matsuoka was also a supporter of the plan to settle Jewish refugees in Manchukuo. Foreign Minister of Japan, 1940-41 In 1940, Matsuoka was asked to assume the cabinet position of Minister of Foreign Affairs under Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe. Matsuoka was a major advocate of a Japanese alliance with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, whose assistance he saw as a perfect balancing force against the United States, and as such was one of the primary orchestrators of the Tripartite Pact in 1940. On December 31, 1940, Matsuoka told a group of Jewish businessmen that he was "the man responsible for the alliance with Adolf Hitler, but nowhere have I promised that we would carry out his anti-Semitic policies in Japan. This is not simply my personal opinion, it is the opinion of Japan, and I have no compunction about announcing it to the world." During March–April 1941 Matsuoka visited Moscow and Berlin. On March 29, 1941, at a conversation with German Minister of Foreign Affairs Joachim von Ribbentrop, Ribbentrop was instructed to not tell the Japanese anything about the upcoming Operation Barbarossa, and that the Japanese be kept in the dark about Germany's plans. Ribbentrop tried to convince Matsuoka to urge the government in Tokyo to attack Singapore, claiming the British navy was too weak to retaliate due to its involvement in the Battle of the Atlantic. Matsuoka responded to this by stating preparations to occupy Singapore were under way. Matsuoka also signed the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact during his visit to Moscow in April 1941. However, after Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, Hitler proposed to Matsuoka that Japan take part in the attack as well. Matsuoka became a fervent supporter of the idea of a Japanese attack on Siberia, and constantly pressured Konoe and the leaders of the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy to mobilize the military for that purpose. In the end, both the army and the navy as well as Konoe decided to concentrate military efforts on targets south of Japan. Despite the military's opposition to his ideas, Matsuoka continued to loudly advocate an invasion of Russia and became increasingly reckless in his diplomatic dealings with the United States, which he believed was conspiring to provoke Japan into a war. Matsuoka's hostility towards the United States (a vocal opponent of