FRANCE’S POLICY TO-DAY

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12619, 2 December 1926, Page 7

FRANCE’S POLICY TO-DAY

“WE SHALL NOT ALLOW FRENCH THROATS TO BE CUT” IN CHINA VEILED WARNING TO ITALY “WE ARE NOT IN THE RHINELAND IN ORDER TO BULLY GERMANY” In defining France’s foreign policy, M. Briand declared that although she hoped peace would be preserved in China, she would not “allow French throats to be cut.”

By Telegraph.—Frees Assn. —Copyright. Australian and N Z. Cable Association. (Received December 1, 7.20 p.m.) PARIS, November 30. M. Briand, the Foreign Minister, in the course of a statement on France’s foreign policy, said Syria and Tunis wore settling down. France’s treatment of these territories had been approved by the Mandates Commission. She was maintaining a moderate attitude in China, and try-' ing to follow the policy of conforming to Chinese interests, but Franco must

protect her own citizens. “We shall not allow French throats to be cut,” he added. There was talk of a possible massacre of foreigners in Hankow. France would defend her Concession there, if necessary, but it was nopea sne would not become involved in military operations. There had been ill-humoured incidents in Italy. It was a pity such ill-humour was always directed against France. Fortunately the incidents had not led to serious results, but there was a limit to things. Consulates and legations should he respected. Relations now were satisfactory, and Frenchmen should not pay too much attention to the wild

claims to French territory appearing in Italian newspapers. THE EFFECT OF LOCARNO. A lasting European peace was impossible without a Franco-German rapprochement, ho said. “Peace is a person difficult to please, demanding more than politeness. We must give ourselves £o her entirely. The Covenant of the League of Nations is the cornerstone pf the Versailles Treaty, and the policy of the Locarno Pact merely amounts to putting the league into action. “It is a great thing that ‘Germany has voluntarily signed a paper recognising the French frontier and renouncing the settlement of disputes by force. We are not in the ‘Rhineland in order to bully Germany. The occupation is a pledge for a specific object.” M. Briand declared that the German assertion that France had not: made concessions was inexact. She had made both concessions and sacrifices. Germany had not made any sacrifice. Her entry into the league was an honour, not a sacrifice. He was convinced that the substitution of the league’s military control in Germany for the inter-Allied control would reinforce European security. If another war broke out there would be no victors, and no vanquished. It would he Europe’s catastrophe.