CAUSES OF WAR IN CHINA

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 184, 1 May 1940, Page 9

CAUSES OF WAR IN CHINA

Conciliatory Japanese Statement BRITAIN AND RUSSIA ACCUSED By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. NEW YORK, April 29. The Tokio correspondent of the Associated Press of America, quoting the Domei news agency, reports that General Itagaki, the former War Minister who is now Chief of Staff in China, said that the conflicthad been caused partly by Japan's boastful insults to China, the worship of things occidental, and Chinese dependence on Europe and the United States. General Itagaki accused Britain and Russia of fomenting anti-Japanese feeling, and claimed that one of the army’s objectives was to destroy the illusion of an anti-Japanese Chinese regime instigated by Britain, France, Russia, and the United States. He added that an armed peace could be expected in Europe shortly, when Japan should expect interference by third Powers who were seeking something which they could not find in Europe. The statement is considered the most conciliatory appeal yet made by the Japanese army to settle the differences between China and Japan in the pan-Asian movement to combat Communism and end Britain’s “monopolistic position in East Asia.”