ANCIENT STRUGGLE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 125, 19 January 1932, Page 7

ANCIENT STRUGGLE

JAPANESE GROUPS CLASH BETWEEN MILITARY AND CIYILIAN ELEMENTS. POLICY IN MANCHURIA. Behind the headlines of Japanese military advance in Manchuria lies a story of desperate struggle hetween the military and civilian elements — a clash whieh has run the gamu't from opera bouffe to calumny and asassination (writes Upton Close, in the New York Times). The present situation in Manchuria arises from the combination of an extreme threat to Japanese national interests, of personal exasperation of the military there by the hostile Chinese population and soldiery, and of the imperilled position in which the old-line militarists found themselves at home. Without any one of these provocations the sudden coup of the ! night of September 18 — deplored by- ! Japanese Consular officials on the spot • as confusing rathef than clearing the issues — would not have heen executed and affairs in Manchuria would now I have a different complexion. j When faced by foreign curiosity • or intervention, the Japanese tend to ; present a united front, however bitI ter their internal struggles; they do not reveal to the world their feelings toward one a'nother . or seek outside aid in their internal contests, as do j some peoples. Only those who have ! closely followed Japan's constitutionJ al and political development have been ! aware of the bitterness and import- ! ance of the struggle of Japan's mili1 tary to maintain a dominant position , in internal politics and foreign affairs ; in the face of rising party governl ment.

; l wo uroups. j The "military clique" consists of an 1 inner group in the army and navy j whose traditions go back directly to ! Prince Yamagata, the founder of I Japan's modern military strength. t United with this clique is an organis- , ed group of reactionary politicians, 1 publicists, and proffcssional propagan- ^ dists. The leader of these combined forces is General Minami, Minister for War. The group we have designated "civilian" consists of the leaders of | one or other of the larger parties — of late years the Minseito party — who find the insistence of the military upon obligarchic conditions entirely incompatible with the building of typical political party government. The effective leader of this group at present is Baron Shidehara, the Foreign Minister. The military believe that Japan's first necessity is to create an empire as great in resource and markets as those at least of France and Holland, and that the surest trade is that which follows the flag. The civilian group feels that Imperial expansion does not pay, as evidenced by the eases of Formosa and TCnroa. that t.rnda is

7 ! more important than empire, and that J the way to get it is through conciliaI tion of the peoples of the Asiatic | mainland rather than appropriation ! of their territory. ! There are other fundamental conj fiicts between the military and eivi1 lian attitudes which we must pass ' over lightly. The militarists stand ! Vv'here the isolationists of Ameriea | do, on the pfinciple that no interna- \ tional commitments for peace dr disI armament should be undertaken which j limit the nation's freedom of action. j One might even say without injustice • that the military clique refuses to | admit the validity of such commitI ments on the part of its own Govern- • ment — a situation now made evident by the divergence between Japan's military control of Manchuria and her diplomatic talk in League circles. Naturally the military regard as little short of traitorous any attempts to cut their budget and to encourage disarmaments. Popular Support. Neither of the two contending factions can claim eonstant public supj port in Japan. The popular strength j of either depends on its good fortune in capturing the nation's imagination | at the moment; other factors which j either group must consider are the > attituae of big business and that of 1 j the more in-fiuential Privy Couneillors : j who advise the Emperor. j Big business -was originally "mili- 1 j taristic." After the war there was a | change, some of the principal business ! leaders turning rather towards the J civilian attitude. But in the last few months many of the financial and industrial leaders have become discouraged because Baron Shidehara's conciliation poliey has failed to win I favourable conditions from the Chinese? and because of a self-seelcing new Chinese boycott which originated with Shanghai manufacturers in midsummer. Several of the Privy Couneillors support the military on all oecasions. Those nearest the Emperor have been strongly influenced by the world trend toward peace and disarmament, and j have been very friendly toward Baron [ Shidehara's earnest efforts to prove , the practicality of the civilian attii tude, but are also infiuenced by the conditions affeeting the great financial and business houses.