Peaceful Advance Into Indo-China

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 227, 24 September 1940, Page 8

Peaceful Advance Into Indo-China

JAPANESE CLAIM

Reports From Other Sources Speak Of Bitter Fighting (United Press Association.—Copyright.—Rec. 1.30 p.m.) LONDON, September 23. An official joint communique issued in Tokyo by the Japanese Army and Navy at 1 1 a.m. stated that units of the army and navy to-day started a "peaceful advance" through Indo-China. The Associated Press of Great Britain correspondent at Hanoi, Indo-China, however, says that the Japanese resumed the attack on French positions near Langson this afternoon after Japanese warplanes had bombed Langson aerodrome. Another Hanoi message says the Japanese are reported to have attacked the three outposts of Dongdang, Binhai and Chinma. A French communique states that the Japanese forces attacked the French after receiving formal notification of the signing of an agreement. It is added that the French granted the Japanese special facilities in Indo-China, in return for which Japan gave assurances to respect France's rights and interests in. the Far East. The head of the Japanese mission, Major-General Nishihara, at present is delaying carrying out the agreement and has postponed landing troops at Haiphong. A Domei agency broadcast earlier said that bitter fighting was progressing between the French and Japanese on the northern frontier of Indo-China after a night of sporadic engagements in the vicinity of Dongdang. The French fired on Japanese crossing the border shortly after midnight, despite notification to the French commander that the Japanese were proceeding under the terms of the Hanoi agreement. Overcoming opposition, the Japanese occupied the heights to the south of Dongdang this morning. The broadcast claimed that the French used gas. The Imperial headquarters in Tokyo, however, announced that rr?e Indo-China Army surrendered at 1 1 o'clock this morning and were disarmed by the Japanese. A Washington dispatch says the Secretary of State, Mr. Cordell Hull, declared that the status quo of Indo-China had been upset through duress, and he reiterated the United States' disapproval, but he did not indicate possible United States steps to give concrete weight to the disapproval.