The contact and disputes between the two sides in the Dutch East Indies were merely an appetizer. The negotiations that would truly decide the fate of the Dutch East Indies were actually taking place in Japan itself, in Edo, where East Africa's ambassador to Japan, Mahe, sought out the Dutch ambassador, Pabst.
When Ambassador Mahe paid him a visit, Pabst was utterly bewildered. He had no idea why the East Africans had come knocking at this particular time.
During this period, Pabst and the other Dutch diplomatic personnel in Japan could be said to have been so anxious that their heads were scorched and their brows singed.
The situation in the Netherlands worsened by the day, and Japan had recently launched an outright invasion of the Dutch East Indies. This left Pabst and the others restless day and night, with no idea what to do.
The absurd thing was that Pabst and the others had learned of Japan's attack on the Dutch East Indies colony from Japanese newspapers.
After Japan declared war on the Netherlands, the Japanese had not directly notified the Dutch embassy in Edo, leaving them in the dark for the time being.
This was because Japan's declaration of war against the Netherlands had been delivered directly through its own people at the Japanese embassy in the Netherlands. By the time Japan's "belated" declaration of war arrived, key coastal ports in the Dutch East Indies had already fallen to Japan, and only then did the Dutch awaken as if from a dream.
Pabst and the other Dutch officials stationed in Japan received the Foreign Ministry's notice even later, instructing him to negotiate with the Japanese Government.
But what could Pabst do? Japan had already made tremendous progress in the Dutch East Indies, while the homeland had no time