The Press Saturday, March 2, 1918. Japan and Russia.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16150, 2 March 1918, Page 8

The Press Saturday, March 2, 1918. Japan and Russia.

Russia 13 a source of embarrassment ; to Germany just now it is still more so | to the Allies. Japan has added to the ' perplexity of the problem by asking • for the views of the Allies, including America, in regard to joint military operations in Siberia, in order to save [ supplies stored at Vladivostopk and ;• at other points along the Siberian rail- | way. Germany has already reaped : ' great advantage from seizing arms, ammunition, and stores supplied to the llussians by the Allies, .and it would ' manifestly bo tho height of folly to l.i allow the huge stores lying in Vladivoi i stock and other places to fall into their J \ hands if it can be avoided. But Japan ,f is probably looking ahead, far beyond ! | tho most pressing problems of tho | ; j moment. Are the Germans to be al- ■ lowed to inter-penetrato Russia in • every direction, and, foiled of their ! ambitions elsewhere, to lay tho foun- | Nation for bringing Russia ultimately | under Gorman sway, thus threatening Japan in Korea and Manchuria? From : this it is an easy step to imagine Geri man aggrandisement directed not only against the island kingdom, but ; ; against China, in regard to which r Japan rocently sot up a species of : Monroe doctrine. Viscount Ishii, who was dispatched on a special diploma- ; tic mission to the United States in I 1917 » declared that it could never be ; the policy of Japan to close the open t door in China, and that it was to Japan's interests to help and not to | despoil her neighbour. At the same I time, he announced that. Japan would py prevent othet nations from doing what I ' they had no right to do, and would r protect, maintain, and defend the !n- ---' tegrity and independence* of fThi'na against .any aggression. fba first difficulty of. the other Allies ' m'

in doaling with tho proposal of the Japanese consists in tho anomalous condition of affairs in Russia. Mr Balfour recently stated that at present the British Government did not regard Russia either as an ally, an enemy, or a neutral. It will be remembered that last summer there was a suggestion, chiefly favoured in France, that the Japanese should send troops across Manchuria to fight on the Russian front. At that time there was a Russian Government to acquiesce in the aid being; given had it desired such assistance, and Japanese troops r.nd supplies so furnished might have had a material effect upon tho fortunes of the war. But Russia is now an inchoate mass without rulo or direction, incapable of articulating its desires. A Japanese army operating in Manchuria might find themselves regarded as invaders instead of as the saviours of tho country. It goes without saying that, beforo sending such troops, Japan would make certain conditions ajid the Allies might find a' difficulty in agreeing to these. A joint expedition might remove some of the objections, but it cotild not be so effective from a military point of view as a homogeneous force under the direction of one commander. American troops are urgently needed on the Western front, and this is another cogent reason in favour of allowing the Japanese to act alone in Russia. Energetic operations on her part, especially if carried out in co-operation with Russian military lenders ablo to rally an army, would perhaps compel Hindenburg to hurry back some of his troops from tho Western to the Eastern front. "Whichever way one looks at it, there is no doubt tho problem is a perplexing one. The balance of argument, however, secnis in favour of decisive action. Siberia is rich in food supplies, and these as well as tho stores of arms and ammunition, ought, if possible, to be kept from falling into German hands.