YAP.

Hokitika Guardian, 16 July 1921, Page 1

YAP.

POTENTIAL SOURCE ()F TROUBLE

The assassination of an archduke at Serajevo was the reason which the Ceilin'. I Powers in 1914 gave to the world for the opening of the great conflict which occupied most of the nations of the earth from 1914 to 1918. Everyone knows now that Serajevo was the merest incident, in the ambitious game that Germany was playing. History may repeat itself if the obscure volcanic island in the North Pacific known as Yap can he made the match to throw again into the powder-magazines of the nations. There are possibilities of war. War is talked of; but our own Prime Minister, Mr Hughes, lias said it would lie a disgrace to civilisation if this thing were allowed to be. If there is to be a war most observers agree that it will not be a war for Yap alone, but one aiming at commercial supremacy in the Ear East. This will bo tbot final cause; with it the present article is not concerned. Yap will he the immediate cause, and as such it is of interest to us, even as the most vital things of our existence. Guam is 3(10 miles from Yap, a trifling distance in the vast Pacific, and both Germany and the United States realised the importance of these two islands as cable bases. After the Bpanisli-American war Spain sold the Carolines, which includes Yap. together

~ith Pi llow, Marianne, and Ladrone Elands, to Germany for £840,000, all except the Guam, in the Ladrone 1sIstands, which the United States had acquired in 1398, a year earlier. To-day an all-American cable, runs from San Francisco, via Honolulu, Guam, and Manila, to Shanghai; while from Guam another cable, the southern part American, the northern Japanese, goe» direct to Yokohama. The Germans, on their part, through the agency of the German Netherlands Company, laid eahles direct from Y'ap to Shanghai, from Y’ap to Mcnaiido in ilie Dutch Fast Indies, and from Y'ap to Guam, The Y’a]>-Guani service was of great, use to Americans, as it gave them an alternative to the Guam-Mnnila cable for communication with China. On tho outbreak of the great war. Japanese i.aval forces occupied the Ladrone. Relew, and Caroline islands, including Yap; and on Mav 7, 1919, the Peace Conference gave the mandate for the islands to Japan. For, hy the Treaty of Y ers,lilies, Germany renounced in favour of the principal Allied and Associated Powers, among other cables, the rallies from Y'ap to Shanghai, to Guam and to Menaiido.

THE PEACE CONFERENCE—AND

AFTER. There was no public discussion regarding Yap in particular at the Peace Conference. The American view that submarine cables were lioU prizes of war, however, was upheld by the Supreme Council of the Allies on March 21, 1919. This decision, which had Tong been cxjH'ctinl, affected 13 German cables, including those to America, and several in the Pacific connecting former German colonics. Japan's view of the matter may lie illustrated hy an article hy \:iscount Kato which appeared in thcTokio "Kokumbin” during January, 1913, extracts from which were forwarded hv ilie ‘‘Times’’ correspondent. It reads: “Our permanent occupation of the South Sea islands will he readily approved by the Allies, being in line with their retention of the German colonies in Africa; it is also a natural sequel (hat Japan should take over the railways, mines, and other German enterprises in Shantung, together with the submarine cables connecting the- South Sea islands.”

Before being brought round to the mandatory settlement, President Wilson was in favour of internationalisation of the Pacific islands, but at later meetings of the Big Three during the Peace Conference he hacked Australia s claim tor the islands both noitli and south of the equator as a mandatoiy. When finally, at a meeting in May, 1919, it was decided that the mandate for the Pacific islands north of the equator formerly belonging to Germany should he awarded to Japan, and the mandate for those south of the equator to Australia and New Zealand, the Japanese representative was not present. It is said that some time before this meeting was held there had been a meeting of Foreign Ministers at the d’Orsay, at which Mr Lansing, the United States Secretary of State, made a reservation excluding Yap from the islands which wore to be placed under the mandate of Japan. No record, however, appears to exist of this reservation. The United States has no wish to acquire Yap. She only wants equal rights with all nations, and therefore desires that the island shall he internationalised. The. contention of Japan is that all the islands north of the equator formerly owed by Germany were entrusted to her, and it is denied that any official statement in regard to the wish of the United States had been made to her. She considers that she is entitled to all the islands, and should the question of Yap he raised she will have to discuss the matter .with all the

other Powers and with the League of Nations.

This year the question has been one of the main subjects of international controversy. Notes have been freely exchanged. Holland has declared that she is a. party to the dispute and Fram e and Italy are reported to be in favour of the American viewpoint. Japan herself, in fact, lias invited this taking of sides. She appealed to all the Allies as being the only people who could undo what they themselves had done. Much mystery also is being indulged in. Hints have been given out in America of the existence of a secret Anglo-Jap-anese Treaty of 1917 which may imtori'ere with America having cable and radio stations at Y T ap. There has been also much diplomatic intrigue and speculation. Japan, for instance, it was reported during February, would accede to the American demands provided that Great Britain would allow Japanese nationals to enjoy the same rights in the South Pacific as they possessed there under German rule. If this were true, the dispute would be brought to cur very doors. Another suggestion in tiie same vein has been that Japan is clinging tenaciously to its right to administer Yap, so that it can use the islands in negotiating with America in the California land question, the Siberian occupation matter, the Japanese policy in the Far East, and Shantung. Much the same talk has been heard in regard to the racial equality issue and Japan’s desire to use that issue as a lever for obtaining a free hand in China.

AN EXCHANGE OF NOTES. The interchange of official Notes became unusually interesting in February, when President Wilson sent to the Council of the League of Nations a communication protesting against the disposition of various territories, and in particular the proposed British mandate over Mesopotamia and Japan’s mandate over Yap. The League of Nations’ Council discussed the matter but came to no decision. The issue for the League was complicatecTEy the fact that it had already approved the mandate to Japan, a mandate which, by the way, is almost identical in its terms with our own mandate for the South Pacific. During March there were indications that the difficulties had been settled ; and one Japanese statesman declared that he regarded the incident a s closed. Tim publication during April of the Notes which had passed between America and Japan, however, seemed to add fuel to the fire. The latest statement hv the Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs (Viscount Kato) is to the effect that Japan could never bear to be robbed of a mandate which had been properly awarded, lie believed, in fact, that America was bvmging pressure to bear in relation to Yap because it disliked Japanese activities in Siberia, and because America over-estmated Japan’s power. The International Communications’ Conference, however, appears to have suggested some sort of a sctlleinent, which is now being considered by the Great Powers concerned. America, it is proposed, shall receive the Pacific cable from the United States island of Guam to Ynp. Japan will obtain the former German cables from Aap to Shanghai and Yap to the Dutch East Indies. In addition, America will have the Atlantic cable from Brest on the West coast to New Y’ork.

Both America and Japan declare that they will not give in. There the matter rests at present.