THE FAR EAST.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16158, 12 March 1918, Page 7

THE FAR EAST.

JAPAN'S ATTITUDE. EARLY DECISION EXPECTED. I (By CabUs.—l'reaa Association.—Copyright.) (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) WASHINGTON, March 10. A decision concerning the Japanese Siberian intervention is expected during the coming week. The United States is to bo notified should Japan decide to intervene. The indications aro that Japan is now more anxious than she was n week ago to enter Siberia. It. is understood that Japan is forming a division of Russians to co-opcrato with the Japanese in Siberia. The United Press states that it is rumoured that the Japanese Government has negotiated with the anti-Bol-shevili leaders for some form of politia'd in the event of intervention in Siberia. LOUD ROBERT CECIL'S VIEWS. ("The Times.") LONDON, March 10. Lord Robert Cecil (Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs), in an interview, said ho would bo glad if Japan were to act in her own and the Allies' interests to prevent the Germanisation of Russia, inhere the Germans were pursuing woria schemes. This was evidenced by the Baltic and Black Sea operations, the pending occupation of Odessa, and the insistence on the restoration to Turkey of Batoum, Erivan, and Khars, which were designed to substitute a new Eastern rout© for the Bagdad railway.

VERSAILLES COUNCIL CONSIDERING. (Australian and N.Z. Cabla Association.) NEW YORK. March 10. A Washington correspondent - learns from an Entento diplomatic source that the Versailles War Council is dealing with the question of Japanese intervention. i CHINESE PATROLLING SIBERIAN RAILWAY. ("The Times.") (Received March lltfo, 7.25 p.m.) PEKING, March 10. A semi-official report states: — "General Semenov has been patrolling I the Siberian railway as far as tho Karimskaya Junction. He commands a Etaunch, disciplined force, which is awaiting guns and supplies. The recent retirement was temporary, and was due to a lack of artillery. "The Bolsheviks are under German officers, and have some artillery, hut they are undisciplined and discontented. They have reached Daouriya, 50 miles from Manchuria. "Many Cossack landowners who have returned from Russia have seen the anarchy there, and are anxious to cooperate with General Semenov to prevent Bolshevik domination at all costs. "There is little doubt that General Semenov, when he is better equipped, will collect forces sufficient to control the situation. "Until more serious developments are threatened the stocks at Vladivostock do not seem to be in any immediate danger. They cannot be reached through Manchuria, as the Amur railway is practically suspended owing to a shortage of coal and rolling stock. Tho Germans will not be able to be seriously aggressive in East Siberia while the western railways are disorganised. "Pro-Ally Russians in Peking, while admitting that the Japanese threat is providing a useful deterrent, state that the fear of intervention might throw Russia into Germany's arms. "The Japanese Press now generally suggests that a military expedition at present is unnecessary, and Government action is thus hampered."