Editing Joachim von Ribbentrop (section)

====Anti-Comintern Pact====
{{Main|Anti-Comintern Pact}}
[[File:Anti-Comintern_Pact_signing_1936.jpg|thumb|Ribbentrop and the Japanese ambassador to Germany, [[Kintomo Mushakoji]], sign the Anti-Comintern Pact on 25 November 1936]]
The Anti-Comintern Pact in November 1936 marked an important change in German foreign policy.<ref>Bloch, p. 106.</ref> The Foreign Office had traditionally favoured a policy of friendship with the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]], and an [[China-Nazi Germany relations|informal Sino-German alliance]] had emerged by the late 1920s.<ref name="Bloch 81">Bloch, p. 81.</ref><ref name="craig 432">Craig, p. 432.</ref> Neurath very much believed in maintaining Germany's good relations with China and mistrusted the [[Empire of Japan]].<ref name="Bloch 81"/><ref name="craig 432"/> Ribbentrop was opposed to the Foreign Office's pro-China orientation and instead favoured an alliance with Japan.<ref name="Bloch 81"/> To that end, Ribbentrop often worked closely with General [[Hiroshi Ōshima]], who served first as the Japanese military attaché and then as ambassador in Berlin, to strengthen German-Japanese ties, despite furious opposition from the [[Wehrmacht]] and the Foreign Office, which preferred closer Sino-German ties.<ref name="Bloch 81"/>

The origins of the Anti-Comintern Pact went back to mid-1935, when in an effort to square the circle between seeking a ''rapprochement'' with Japan and Germany's traditional alliance with China, Ribbentrop and Ōshima devised the idea of an anticommunist alliance as a way to bind China, Japan and Germany together.<ref name="weinberg 342">{{harvnb|Weinberg|1970|p=342}}</ref> However, when the Chinese made it clear that they had no interest in such an alliance (especially given that the Japanese regarded Chinese adhesion to the proposed pact as a way of subordinating China to Japan), both Neurath and War Minister [[Field Marshal]] [[Werner von Blomberg]] persuaded Hitler to shelve the proposed treaty to avoid damaging Germany's good relations with China.<ref name="weinberg 342"/> Ribbentrop, who valued Japanese friendship far more than that of the Chinese, argued that Germany and Japan should sign the pact without Chinese participation.<ref name="weinberg 342"/> By November 1936, a revival of interest in a German-Japanese pact in both Tokyo and Berlin led to the signing of the Anti-Comintern Pact in Berlin.<ref name="weinberg 343">{{harvnb|Weinberg|1970|p=343}}</ref> When the Pact was signed, invitations were sent to Italy, China, Britain and Poland to join. However, of the invited powers, only the Italians would ultimately sign.<ref name="weinberg 343"/> The Anti-Comintern Pact marked the beginning of the shift on Germany's part from China's ally to Japan's ally.<ref>Bloch, pp. 120–121.</ref>