JAPAN READY TO HELP

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22507, 15 September 1938, Page 11

JAPAN READY TO HELP

COMINTERN BLAMED FOR CRISIS SYMPATHY FOR HITLER’S 'SPEECH “PREPARED TO FIGHT WITH EVERY MEANS” (UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT.) (Received September 14, 11 p.m.) LONDON, September 14. A message from Tokyo states that the Foreign Office spokesman (Mr Tatsuo Kawai) said that Japan was prepared, as ever, to join Germany in fighting the Reds in accordance with the Anti-Comintern Agreement. The text of the statement was: “Japan is fully prepared to join forces with Germany to fight with every means against the Comintern, in accordance with our agreement. “Japan hopes that the Great Powers, such as Britain and France, will recognise that the Comintern intrigue is responsible for the present European crisis, and will act accordingly for the sake of world peace. “The Japanese nation is full of admiration and sympathy for Herr Hitler’s speech, which is interpreted as a genuine expression of patriotism demanding the solution of the Sudeten problem with justice. “The Peace Treaty was responsible for racial complications, and the Comintern is taking advantage of them by pulling the strings behind the Czechoslovak Government. The Comintern’s machinations in Czechoslovakia are similar to its subterranean activities in China.”

TENSION NOT RELAXED LONDON COMMENT ON SPEECH “PERVERSION OF PLAIN * FACT” ! ♦ (BRITISH OFFICIAL WIRELF.SS.) RUGBY, September 13. There has been no relaxation in the tension as a result of the first study of Herr Hitler’s speech, which is undergoing further examination by leading Ministers. * It is generally recognised that there must be no slackening in vigilance, and the newspapers reflect the continued anxiety in regard to the situation which is displayed among the public generally, no less than in informed circles.

The “Daily Telegraph” states: “No word of the frenzied speech can be regarded as helpful to peace. A respite is afforded from the immediate danger of war, but it is a disagreeable thought that for possibly months to come Europe is to be kept m full tension, awaiting the moment when Herr Hitler may approve or disapprove of the outcome of the negotiations from which he demands self-determination for the Sudeten Germans. That is the situation, which is. full of every kind of danger.” “The Times” states: “The object of the speech was'apparently to put the onus for a settlement on Czechoslovakia, though anything more than that Government can do within the structure of the present state could only be to place the German minority in a highly privileged position, and accord to it power to influ ice its policy out of all proportion to its numbers.

“Herr Hitler spoke of 7,000,000 Czechs torturing 3,500,000 Germans —an absurd perversion of the truth, which can hardly have deceived his own docile and devoted audience. He even explained that there was a desire to annihilate them. It is lamentable indeed that the head of a great country like Germany should talk such nonsense.” One Remarkable Omission

Further consideration in London of Herr Hitler’s speech appears to have confirmed first impressions. One remarkable omission from the speech has been noted in London—Herr Hitler appeared wholly to have failed to appreciate, or to have made due allowance for, the attitude accepted by the British Government, which has not only acknowledged from the beginning the urgency of the problem and recognised in many respects the justice of the Sudeten German grievances, but acted upon that acknowledgement by the almost unremitting exercise of ifs influence. Herr Hitler might be understood rather to have implied that the British Government, together with other democratic Powers, had tried to obstruct a settlement.

Such a perversion of plain fact, whether unconscious or deliberate, reaches dangerous proportions in the British view. The diplomatic history of the last few months contains a complete answer to Herr Hitler on this point. The British Government has not only recognised the urgency of the problem arid sought to promote its peaceful solution, but it has also recognised from the beginning that the inter-relation of the forces involved in the situation in Central Europe is such that if resort were had to force in an attempt to solve the Sudeten problem the consequences would be quite immeasurable, and that in such circumstances no. one could predict ’the turn of events or foretell the manner or moment or form in which vital decisions might be forced upon governments.

To-day’s deterioration in the internal situation in Czechoslovakia serves to throw into greater relief the conviction which prevails in the highest quarters here, that at this moment it was essential to give a chance to the negotiations to proceed without interruption, and that a settlement by the negotiations was and is not impossible if they are allowed to proceed in an atmosphere of calm.