The Evening Star THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1940. JAPAN AND INDO-CHINA.

Evening Star, Issue 23685, 19 September 1940, Page 8

The Evening Star THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1940. JAPAN AND INDO-CHINA.

Ix attempting to develop its Greater East Asia programme Japan is reported to be pressing various demands on JndoChina. The importance of this territory to Tokio is clear. For one thing, it is on the mainland, its, northern border being China’s southern boundary, and its possession, therefore, would be of great strategic importance to Japan. In addition, it is a very rich province, containing many raw materials that Japan lacks. These include, in large quantities, rubber, coal, zinc, and other minerals important to a manufacturing country-. This aspect of the matter was touched on a few days ago by the Japanese Foreign Minister, who said that his country’s Greater East Asia programme “ at present ” was concentrated on the acquisition of materials and arranging sources of supply, and on this point Mr Matsuoka made a slanting reference to the Dutch East Indies. There is no doubt that if there were no restraining influences Japan would march into Indo-China without delay. But many complicated factors enter into the situation. Japan has her own troubles, financial and economic. They were difficult before the outbreak of the European War, and they have enormously increased since then as the icsult of her loss of trade with the west. She is still involved in the struggle with China, which shows no sign of ending. A sidelight on this aspect of the position is a confident statement by Chiang Kai-shek, who declares that the day of reckoning for Japan is near, and that as soon as the Japanese have exhausted their supplies of American gasoline and aircraft China will “ force the enemy to account.”

Oil being essential to mechanised warfare, Japan must be in a serious predicament.. Her trade treaty with the United States, which lapsed in January, has not been renewed. Further than that, Washington put an embargo on the export of oil from the country. That applied to every nation, hut whereas it did not seriously affect Great Britain, which it is understood has access to supplies sufficient for her needs, it was a cause of the gravest embarrassment to Japan, which has been dependent on oil shipments from America. The State Department in Washington on various occasions has intimated plainly to Tbkio that its interest in East Asia has been in no way diminished by recent events. The latest report is that the Japanese are pressing for a partition of Indo-China that would' bring Tonking, which adjoins China, under Japanese control, and permit the establishment of an air base at Hanoi, the capital of Indo-China. Annum, in the middle, is proposed as a buffer State, and the southern provinces, the chief city of which, is Saigon, would remain under French control. Such an arrangement would suit Japan admirably as a temporary measure, paving the way for the ultimate control of the whole of Indo-China. The collapse of France has rendered difficult the protection from outside aggression of this fine territory. In its population of 23,000,000 there are only about 43,000 Europeans, so that effective resistance, unaided, against a great Power like Japan would be impossible. General Catroux, a former Governor-General of Indo-China, who supports General de Gaulle, urges co-operation with Britain in order to save the provinces from invasion and practical annexation. In the circumstances the most the British Government can do is to use its influence in the matter. The United States Administration might be able to make an impression on the Tokio statesmen if it took a decided stand, for Japan is not anxious, to acid to her battlefronts. At the moment the position is obscure, and seems to depend on whether Nippon feels secure enough to reach out to her objective.