With the diplomatic situation in China between the Kuomintang government and the Imperial Japanese Army becoming increasing strained, Konoe felt the need for direct negotiations with Chiang Kai-shek to avoid open warfare.

He cultivated an association with the daughter of an important government official who guided him to Chongqing; this private diplomacy was discovered by the Kempeitai, and he was then recalled to Japan because this was seen by the cabinet as a problem.

After his return to Japan, Konoe created a youth political organization called the Shonen Doshi-kai (青年同志会) to continue to insist on direct negotiations to prevent war in China.

In 1955, during Japanese-Soviet diplomatic normalization negotiations, Prime Minister Ichirō Hatoyama made a formal request for his release, and presented a petition signed by hundreds of thousands of people from Japan; however, the Soviet Union refused.

On October 18, 1991, in accordance with Articles 2 and 3 of the Soviet Law on Restoring the Honor of Victims of Political Repression he was formally acquitted of wrongdoing, and on February 27, 1992, this ruling was reconfirmed by the Russian Federation's Military Police High Public Prosecutor, with a certificate to this effect issued on October 16, 1997, by the Russian Federation's Military Police High Public Prosecutor.