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With Negotiator Kobayashi, Hubertus van Mook had an easy time. When Kobayashi opened the negotiations by asking for oil, Minister van Mook explained that he was a member of a Government, not a merchant ; Mr. Kobayashi had better negotiate directly with the oil companies. The companies having been tipped off, Kobayashi managed to get 1,800,000 tons of crude and refined oil, but no aviation gasoline. Then it was revealed that the British had contracted for the Indies' entire high-octane output. Kobayashi discovered that it was necessary for him to return home for the 2,600th anniversary of the Empire's founding. Two months later Yoshizawa replaced him.
"Old Fox" Yoshizawa was calculated to be more than a match for Amateur Diplomat van Mook. Muttered Admiral Nobumasa Suetsugu, longtime policymaker for the Japanese Navy, as the negotiations opened: "We have a right to ask the East Indies to cooperate with us ... and to ask them for the materials needed for our common prosperity and existence. . . . There is no cause for hesitation. It all depends on Japan's own determination." Minister van Mook was also determined.
The Dutchman was in a tight spot. The Government was in the rubber and tin business, and so the answer that had worked with oil would not do this time. Minister van Mook, tongue in cheek, took refuge in "reasonableness." He announced that his Government would treat Japan as well as it treated Great Britain and the U.S., but could not treat it better because, after all, Britain was an ally and Japan was not. It was also reasonable to refuse to sell Japan more products than Japan could reasonably use for home consumption, since Germany, Japan's ally, was at war with The Netherlands. Furthermore, it was reasonable to subtract from Japan's usable quota the tin and rubber which Japan was getting from French Indo-China. It was reasonable, before accepting Japan's demands for increased immigration quotas, to ask Japan to fill the existing quota (which Japan had so far failed to do by 300 immigrants annually). Finally, it was reasonable to grant the Japanese permission to establish an airline from Tokyo to Batavia if Japan granted the Dutch permission to fly the identical route.
Japan had asked for huge concessions hoping for protracted negotiations, during which Ally Hitler would blitz Britain and the Netherlands Government in London out of existence. If the Japanese had been reasonable they might have won a great deal, for the Indies were in no position to fight. But while the Japanese played for time, Minister van Mook was the one who got it — and used it. When the negotiations ended in a complete Japanese defeat last June, thanks to Hubertus van Mook the Dutch had had time to get ready. Admiral Nobumasa Suetsugu felt that Japan's fail ure to grab the Indies was unforgivable.