MANCHURIA QUARREL

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 34, 2 October 1931, Page 3

MANCHURIA QUARREL

9 (British Official Wireless).

action by league JAPAN ASKED TO EXPEDITE WITHDRAWAL OF TROOPS CHINA REQUESTS ASSISTANCE

RUGBY, Wednesday. Geneva reports state that a committee of the League of Nations Council consisting of representatives of Great Britain, France, Italy and Germany, met at Geneva this morning and drafted a resolution on the Sino-Japanese quarrel which a full meeting of the Council acce-pted tonight. The resolution asks the Japanese Government to expedite the withdrawal of its troops from the affected area, while the Chinese Government is asked to assure the safety of Japanese subjects. It is proposed, in addition, that the Council adjourn until Oetober 14, but the Council will not meet on that date if Japanese. troops have been withdrawn by then and if direct negotiations between China and Japan have been started. Replying to a question in the House. of Commons, the Under-Secretary for Forqign Affairs, Captain R. A. Eden, referred to the course of events following the appeal addressed by the. Council of the League to the parties to this dispute. The Chinese Government, in their reply to the League Council, he said, had expressed gratification at the action taken, together with the hope that further measures would be forthcoming. They, however, modified their original demand for the appointment of the neutral commission of investigation into a proposal that the Council should help the parties to reach an agreement as to arrangements on the spot, which would make it possible to fix an early date for the completion of the withdrawal of the Japanese troops. At two successive meetings of the Council, the Japanese delegate reported the progressive withdrawal of Japanese troops from Chinese territory. He had also declared that his Government had no territorial designs on Manchuria and that they maintained their determination, of which practical proof had been given during the last few days, to withdraw their forces within the railway zone in so far as the safety of Japanese Nationals and their property were effectively provided for. The Japanese delegate added that all Japanese troops were now withdrawn except for those in Mukden and Kirin and a small number in two other towns.