to General Ugaki Kazushige. As general In March 1928, Tatekawa was promoted to major general and became the military liaison to the Embassy of Japan in Beijing. He was appointed head of the Second Bureau (Intelligence) of the General Staff in August 1929, where he was in position to provide information and assistance to then plotters of the March Incident who aimed at making Ugaki Prime Minister. After he was transferred to the First Bureau (Operations) in August 1931, he provided information and aid to Kingoro Hashimoto and Isamu Chō in the abortive coup d'état known as the October incident. Tatekawa was dispatched by Army Minister Jirō Minami to Manchuria for the specific purpose of curbing the insubordination and militarist behavior of the Kwantung Army. There was a growing concern by both military and civilian leaders in Tokyo that the Kwantung Army would take unauthorized action to provoke an incident leading to war with China. Tatekawa was sent with a letter from Minami to the commander of the Kwantung Army, Lieutenant General Shigeru Honjō, together with a second letter written by General Kanaya Hanzo, head of the Army General Staff. The Kwantung Army was forewarned of this visit by a message from Tatekawa's assistant, Colonel Kingoro Hashimoto. On arrival, instead of reprimanding the Kwantung Army leaders for their insubordination, Tatekawa said that everything could wait "until tomorrow" and spent his time in a ryōtei until he passed out from a drink. That same night, the Mukden Incident occurred, which provided the pretext for the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. From Tatekawa's peculiar behavior the previous night, it can be surmised that he was aware of, and supported, the plot and had taken the deliberate decision not to prevent it . In December 1931, Tatekawa was on the Japanese delegation to the Geneva Disarmament Conference and from July 1932 was the Japanese permanent representative to the League of Nations in Geneva until Japan officially withdrew from the League in March 1933. He was promoted to lieutenant general in August 1932. In March 1933, he was made commander of the IJA 10th Division. He was transferred to command the IJA 4th Division in December 1935. His military career ended when he was forced to resign from military service in the purge of Kōdōha officers following the February 26 Incident. Diplomatic career In September 1940, Tatekawa was appointed as ambassador to the Soviet Union.