JAPANESE REPLY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20070, 17 October 1939, Page 4

JAPANESE REPLY

TREATY ABROGATION UNITED STATES PLAN RENEWAL DOUBTS REPLACEMENT HINTED (Klee. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (Reed. Oct. 17, 9 a.m.) TOKIO, Oct. 15. The Japanese Prime Minister, General Abe, in an interview with Japanese-language newspapers, expressed the opinion that it might be impossible temporarily to extend the 1911 commercial treaty with the United States expiring on January 26, 1940. He said, however, that .it might be possible to negotiate a new one at least provisionally. It is expected in view of the return of the United States Ambassador, Mr. Joseph Grew, that trade discussions will be starting soon. General Abe said that Japan was determined to create a new Chinese Central Government able to share in the reorganisation of East Asia which China and Japan must accomplish unassisted by outsiders. He added that the reorganisation could be accomplished and that the neutrality and rights of third Powers would be respected and an effort made to convince the world of the sincerity of Japan’s aims, which were the preservation of’ peae'e in East Asia, the establishment of prosperity and the co-operation of all nations for. international stability. The Japanese War Office derides the Chinese claims of victories in Central China and claims that the Japanese have taken all the fortified positions in the Chinese ninth zone, including the mountains south of Kiukiang between the Hupeh and Kiarigsi provinces. A message despatched from New York on July 27 stated that the United States Government had decided to give notice, of abrogation of the 1911 treaty of friendship and commerce with Japan. Notes announcing the action were handed simultaneously to the Japanese Ambassador at Washington and the Foreign Office in Tokio. Only 250 words in length, the announcement made no mention of the situation in China, but stressed that the United States has, in recent years, been examining treaties of. commerce and navigation between the United States and foreign countries “with the view to determining what changes may or need be made toward better serving the purpose for which such treaties are concluded.’’ The note, however, significantly added that the abrogation was aimed toward preparing the way for new consideration of the treaty "with the view to better safeguarding and promoting American interests _as new developments may require. ’ The treaty contains the usual clauses of a - commercial pact concerning rights of residence and legal protection for nationals, right of consuls shipping, etc., ■with most-fav-oured-nation clauses. Perhaps the most important of these not only give both countries tariff protection, but also provide against special import or export embargoes against one or other’of the two countries.