JAPAN'S DEMANDS ON INDOCHINA.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 222, 18 September 1940, Page 7

JAPAN'S DEMANDS ON INDOCHINA.

I DIVIDING COUNTRY. Right To Bases And Passage Of Troops. Cnited Press Association.—Copyright. (Reed, noon.) LOXDOX, Sept, 17. Newspapers in Hongkong; state that Lieut.-General Xishihara, of the Japanese mission to lndoChina, has presented the final demands to Admiral Deeous, tjie Governor General. The terms are reported i. be:— (!) Tndo-China to be divided into three sections. Tonking. under Japanese control; Annam. a buffer zone: and the southern provinces, which will remain under French control. (2) The establishment of a Japanese air base at Hanoi. (3) The establishment of Japanese naval bases, also Japanese control of the northern sea Wit. A message from Kweilin states thai according to informed circles. the Ja|ianese-French negotiators at Hanoi agTeed to the following:— (1) To the landing of Japanese troops at Haiphong, with passage onlv along the railway. (2) To the landing of 30.000 Japanese only, in order not to exceed two-third? of the French garrison at Tonking. (3) Japanese to use Hanoi airfield. The Japanese, however, it is reported. are insisting on landing 120,000. and this is why the negotiations are dragging on. According to earlier reports from Hanoi. French oflicia!s admitted unofficially that negotiations i>etv.-een IndoChina and Japan were likely to restil: in an immediate agreement permitting I Japan to establish 25.000 troops in China. They said that this might possibly cause China to send troops over the frontier, thus precipitating a conflict and ending France's rule. All are convinced that only the United States can prevent Japan from gaining a possibly unshakeable hold. The inability of the Vichy Government to deter the Japanese has* strengthened the support for General de Gaulle, but lack of organisation has prevented the formation of a movement able to sway the decisions of the Administration. According to the British official wireless. Viscount Caldecote, who made a statement in the Honse of Lords, similar to that Mr. Churchill made in the House of Commons, added a short statement on the situation in Indo-China. He said: "His Majesty's Government has no definite information as to the course of proceedings, but in view of current reports and the fact that Japan has been pressing Indo-China to allow the passage of Japanese troops, the British Government has made it clear to the Japanese Government that it is interested in the maintenance of the status quo in that area."