Nelson Evening Mail WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1942 TOJO AND TOGO

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 2 September 1942, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1942 TOJO AND TOGO

ALTHOUGH the names may look and sound much alike to us Tojo and: Togo are two very different persons. General Tojo is Prime Minister of i Japan, Minister of the Interior and Minister of War. Shigenori Togo, i j the only civilian in the Cabinet, I was Foreign Minister. It appears now that he has been shorn of that important office which, in emasculated form, has been added to the porttolios of Tojo, a development which has given rise to considerable specu-i | lation. At the same time there hasj been created a new department with; | the imposing name of Ministry of Greater East Asia. This is the ma-i nifestation of Japan's overweening expansion ambitions. Having grabbed in record time the rich territories of other nations she is now setting out to exploit them while yet there is time. Maybe she looks on them fondly as permanent acqui-. sitions. It is certain she will plunder all the raw materials she can to feed the war machine. Reports suggest that already cargoes of rawrubber, tin, oil and the pther pro-) ducts of the Indies are beating through the Japanese-dominated China Sea to the ports of Nippon. The Japanese have a flair for trade and exploitation. Their powerful financial organisation is controlled by a few families. Development companies are the main instrument and these will not take long to get going in the island conquests as they j have done in Manchukuo and occu- j pied China. In Manchukuo they di-! rect practically the whole of the eco-: nomic and industrial structure, bank- 1 ing, insurance, transport, mining, chemical works, forestry, fuel. and salt. Imperial ordinances also establish them to administer such enterprises as weights and measures, telephones and telegraph, which we in New Zealand have been accustomed to look upon as fit subjects! for control by the State. A Ministry: for Greater East Asia will sound} well in Japanese ears. The intriguing feature about the reshuffle is; that Japanese-held territory in East! | Asia proper—Manchukuo, Korea and Japanese-occupied China—is appar-i ently excluded from its scope. Jurisdiction over these is to remain within the province of! the Foreign Minister, who, it is : believed, is the Prime Minister j himself. The world is wondering, why; also why Togo should have* been displaced and Tojo should have« added another portfolio to the keyones he already holds. Normally a Cabinet change in Japan would not excite much com-' j ment. Why has it happened just at this time? Widely-varying interpre-' tations come from United Nations* capitals. Togo made his diplomatic mark as ambassador to Moscow by keeping the peace with Russia through the uncertain period of the border disputes. One opinion is that ; Japan is about to torpedo that policy 1 by attacking - Russia and that Togo ; would not be in sympathy with such a step. It is known that September weather is the most favourable of the whole year for military operations in this theatre. Togo married a German wife. Wrapped round this ; tact is the theory that he favours a ' policy of more direct co-operation * with Germany in the conduct of the ! war instead of concentrating orr con- ! solidating and exploiting Japan’s own | conquests more or less independent | of combined Axis strategy. The in- ; fere nee from this would be that he ; directly favours an attack on Russia, j the direct opposite of the first ; explanation. A third interpretation (and there will doubtless be others) is that Tojo has advanced another stage in the process of gathering power into his own hands. For some time it has been suggested that the wine of success has gone to his head, that he treats the Emperor with scant respect and that, ape ing Hitler, his mentor, he aspires to become a Japanese dictator. Already he commands great power. As Prime Minister he is head of the Government; as Minister of War he has the biggest say in Japanese military policy while, as Minister of the Interior, he holds the reins of domestic administration, Power may taste sweet to this Japanese militarist. After all, his policies have brought great conquests to Nippon, and so, while his mana is high, what more natural than that Tojo, like Caesar, should seize the opportunity to gather more authority to himself? A dictator does not have - to consider dissenting opinions or the

rights of minorities; while he lasts he can either ignore them or liquidate the authors. If Tojo could secure and retain the support of the financial and industrial groups in Japan he could probably pursue his madcap militaristic policy until Nemesis in the shape of the United Nations overtakes him.