The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1932. JAPANESE VIEWPOINT.

Hokitika Guardian, 8 November 1932, Page 4

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1932. JAPANESE VIEWPOINT.

A recent article in the Round Table sets out the viewpoint of Japan in connection with its Manchurian policy. It says that tine policy arouses no gi-a-ve misgivings in tiiei mind of the military party that inspired it while the public have accepted it, con-, sidering it lifers action results * and an outlet for the circumscribed 'national energies. If it is inconsistent with the spirit of international harmony, is Japan any worse off tor that than she was before P Oa-n the Powers which, exclude Japanese- -subjects from their own territory be trusted when they profess international amity ? Do force and money rule- the Western world, or do they not? Japan internally is in a state of stress, both cultural and econmic. The difficulty of reconciling her own cultural individuality with the conditions imposed upon her by accidental 1 civilisation produces a strain both upon the individual 'and the nation as a whole, which results in a frame of mind leading easily to antagonism towards the West. The difficulty of making ends meet in 'a poor country forces the Japanese to look ahead for new sources of wealth. But they are thwarted at every turn. Only in China is there territory which they can perhaps exploit. It is a dangerous remedy for a dangerous situation, and they are well aware of it. They know well that now, as in past centuries, their destiny must 'be- governed by the march of events on the Asiatic mainland. Gan they, they ask themselves, and with fer rather than with hop-e, influence events bv their policies? We do not, perhaps, appreciate what terrors their situation holds for them. Let an Englishmen imagine how he would feel if the greater part of Europe were inhabited by ope homogeneous people vastly more numerous than his own, with a growing national consciousness, traditionally hostile. Just as the, idea of a peaceful European confederation seems, alas, a dream to most European statesmen, so to the rulers of Japan the prosnect of an understanding, to say nothing of a partnership, with China seems unutterably 'remote. It must be admitted that the Japanese have, to their credit, in the last few years tried, however clumsily, a policy of conciliation with China, and have persisted in it under great provocation. Jt is not cnly the reactionary elements which, have called -a, halt to this experiment. There are many serious minded Japanese who regretfully, but quite sincerely, believe that such a policy r was hound to fail. They see China rapidly disintegrating' before their eyes, and they <ask them,selves whether their fiest coutse is not to strive to save something from .the ruins, and to marls out and secure at least one 'area which they can immunise from the surrounding contagion. It is a desperate policy, hut jt is intelligible to- anybody who will admit that Japan’s interests in China are more vital to her than the interests which the 'Shanghai defence force was established to Protect so short a time ago were to England. It is a'dangerous policy. Dangerous- to Javan, because it tends to- revive the prestige of tire, military caste, to- strengthen the waning fuedal ideology. Dangerous to civilisation, because it create? one more septic focus in a disordered world.