THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, October 7, 1940. THE JAPANESE ILLUSION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24422, 7 October 1940, Page 6

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, October 7, 1940. THE JAPANESE ILLUSION

Japan—or to be accurate, the militant clique which controls Japan’s destinies—has not yet taken that step which would precipitate the country into a major war. It is difficult, even taking full account of the insolent and bellicose note in recent Japanese pronouncements, to believe that Prince Konoye would be so reckless as to dare an encounter in the Pacific with the democratic Powers. If Japan is preparing to engage in such an adventure, the self-delusion of her present leaders must be regarded as complete.’ Carried away by the glittering prospect of an all-victorious Axis in Europe and the Near East, a complacent Soviet gorged with Black Sea and Adriatic spoils handed over by Germany, they must envisage a vast continental and island empire being plumped into their laps while the United States gazes wan and inert at the wreck of all her ideals, the defeat of all her friends, and the collapse of her economy. It is, perhaps, a picture fascinating to a group of Fascistintoxicated Japanese. It is also a picture sadly at variance with the realities. These are not altered by the Japanese pact with Germany and Italy, and they present a different view of Japan. This is of a nation seriously wounded in prestige, in morale and in military strength by a long-drawn war with a great people which stubbornly refuses to acknowledge defeat; of a nation dependent to the present day for. 50 to 60 per cent, of her riiaterials of war, and'a greater percentage of her export market, upon a great Power which she is threatening with war; and of a nation challenging yet another world Power with communications and bases intact throughout the seven seas, and a navy never so busily engaged in one' sphere that there are not strong units to spare in any other where trouble threatens.

. Japan, in fact, stands out from this massive canvas as a nation which would be more urgently in need of friends, in the event of war in the Pacific than those two Powers which she may be,,disposed to regard as too gravely concerned in the West to resist a threat in the Far East.' Those new-won friends which she claims, Germany and Italy, are at least as preoccupied in the European and Near Eastern spheres. The degree of assistance they could give Japan in a Far Eastern conflict is less than infinitesimal. While the Japanese leaders move to benefit by the war in Europe by seeking; territorial and ecdnomic advantages in so-called East Asia, the Axis is cynically capitalising their expansionist dreams. It is not for her military and naval strength that the Axis has wooed Japan, but for her nuisance value. That is very considerable. A reckless, battle-crazed Japan beating at the democratic Powers in the Pacific can certainly create a diversion from the West, where Herr Hitler is spending his full force, But the democratic Powers, if sufficiently provoked, would be able to deal with the nuisance. The fundamental mistake in present Japanese policy is that the nation’s leaders are making demands on the United States and Great Britain when they should be conciliating these two stronger Powers. That mistake may well prove fatal if it is persisted in. There is in the Far East to-day a great opportunity for Japan to improve her position as a Power with legitimate claims for expansion of her interests. If this opportunity is finally jettisoned by Japan’s Fascistinspired leaders Japan’s future will be doubtful indeed. ■■