DANGER AHEAD

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 251, 14 June 1932, Page 7

DANGER AHEAD

america's warning AGGRESSIYE WAR POLICY OF MlLiTARIST LEADERS iN jARAN. CONFLICT WITH RUSSIA. The deliberate and aggressive war policy of militarist leaders in Japah, if carried to its logieal conclusion, can result only in eventual disaster for Jdpari, wr ites Sherwood Eddy, an authority on Far Eastern affairs, in the San Francisco Examirier. Invited by liberal leader^ to visit Japan after II had spent more than ' four months in Manchuria, Korea, and China, I warned my friends that continuqtion of the present coiirse would riieari probably three things. — . , , (1) An inevitabie war with Russia; not, possibly, immediately, but. that such a war would become a certainty when. the Soviet has been further strengthened by its second Five-Year-Plan. (2) The economic bankruptcy of their nation, and not its economic salvation, as the militarists apparently hope. (3) Eventual revolution in Japan itself, since the people of. Japan already are burdened almost to the breaking point. These sairie warnings I ventured to repeat to military leaders, and to one general in particular I pointed out that Japan would aiign against herself a possible combination of 585,000,000 people — 400,000,000 Chinese, 165,000,000 iRussians, 20,000,000 Koreans — armed and backed by the resources of Soviet Russia. This Japanese general was not in the least sobered by the prospect I outlined. He said with confidence that Japan would "divide and conquer," whip her enemies, one by one, and annex Eastern Siberia "up to Lake Baikql." While the friction in Shanghai was

in its early stages a Japanese leader j told me in Tokio that Japan must take Shanghai and Nanking. One week later the bombardment of Shanghai began. I Open Admissions. It should be noted that these men i spoke thus openly to me at a time j when the diplomats of Japan "vvere i telling the world in published state- | ments, and telling the League of Na- ] tions through her delegate at Geneva, that Japan is not making "war," has no aggressive policy and no territorial ambitions. But Japan has staked everything upon this desperate military adventure, has conducted propaganda for months in advance to ensure popular support of it. For the masses, Japanese military leaders have pictured Japan as "the redeemer of China." The public is not permitted to hear or know any facts unfavourable t° Japan. There is a tight censorship

of Press and platform aiike. No single individual in all Japan was speaking out boldly in criticism of this military adventure. To do so would probably have meant instant assassination or imprisonment. When students of the University of Tokio attempted to voice massed opposition, twenty-five were arfested. I expect to see an increase of mass protests and strikes later under growing economic pressure. But no individual dares speak against the strong Fascist military dictatorship which dominates the country. The rigours of this control afe not such as would be justified by the minor "defensive" actions in which the Japanese military leaders represerit themselves as being engaged. Significant also is the dogged refusal to permit any judicial or peaceful means of settlement. By her actions Japan has assailed the very foundations of the League of Nations and of all world organisations for peace. . Mutual Irritation. There have been elements, of course, of right and wrong on both sides. I have endeavoured throughout to be open-minded, fair, and impartial; and because of my fifteen years' residence in the Orient and my acquaintance among leaders of all f actions in the various countries involved, I had unique opportunity for obtaining a balanced and comprehensive picture. I have, moreover, a very great friendship for the Japanese people. I make the above statements because I wish to indicate complete lack of prejudice in the investigations which I made so widely, and^ which, to my mind, result in an indictment of Japanese military leadership as having been intent on a war of conquest from the beginning, and on a pre-arranged plan. The clash between Japan and China is a case of mutual exasperation. China was also guilty of _ pfti-pricks, insults, and treaty evasions, which gave Japan a strong case if she had been willing to state it in court or settle it by peaceful means instead of insisting on going to war. It is because of ramifications and result of the Japanese plan are so far-reaching— and likely to be so terribie — that what was a "local" . quarrel, and little understood in the beginning, become a vital cause.