The Southland Times. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1940. America's Pacific Defence Policy

Southland Times, Issue 24231, 14 September 1940, Page 4

The Southland Times. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1940. America's Pacific Defence Policy

A FEW days ago it was reported from Washington that the chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Relations Committee, Mr Sol Bloom, had endorsed the strengthening of Australian-Ameri-can ties. He pointed out that, although there is at present no necessity for a defensive agreement similar to the agreement already reached with Canada, “new developments might make it desirable in the future.” This is one more indication of a trend in Pacific policy which is receiving the attention of thoughtful persons in Australia, and which should be studied with an equal carefulness in New Zealand. American writers have been claiming for some time that the real defence of their country is to be found beyond their coastlines, and the eagerness with which naval and air bases have been accepted in British possessions in the West Indies shows that the theory has long been favoured in official circles. But although the immediate danger seems to exist in the Atlantic zone, the importance of Pacific strategy has not been overlooked. Indeed, American naval experts were pressing for the establishment of new island bases before the outbreak of the present war. Early in 1939 a naval board under Rear-Admiral Arthur J. Hepburn ■drew up plans which- included the fortification of Guam, Wake Island and Midway Island. These three islands are all to the west of Hawaii, which has generally been regarded as the Pacific outpost of the American naval defence system. Accompanying this interest in naval bases has been the development of commercial air routes to New Zealand, Australia and New Caledonia. Such activities are bringing the Pacific Dominions into the American orbit, at least in a strategic sense.

Eyes on Japan

The process has been welcomed in Australia, where it is recognized as the beginning of a defensive screen against a possible southward advance by Japan. Australians believe that the Japanese have built strong bases in the Caroline and Marshall groups. Jaluit, in the Marshalls, is only about 3000 miles from Sydney—--1000 miles nearer than Singapore. The new situation in the Far East created by the collapse of France, and by Britain’s heavier naval requirements in European waters, has impressed Australians with the potential danger that exists for them while Japan is manoeuvring for a foothold in Indo-China. They are increasingly ready to co-operate with the United States in a comprehensive system of Pacific defence, and it will be surprising if the subject has not already been discussed in some detail by the Australian Minister in Washington and by the Federal authorities, including Mr Cordell Hull. Normally the approach to an understanding would be made difficult by the claims of the Imperial system, and by the delicate questions of Far Eastern trade. Moreover, Australia and New Zealand cannot turn to the United States for protection' in a sudden crisis on the assumption that, when the crisis is over, the entire structure of Pacific relations can remain on its earlier loose basis. Cooperation brings obligations and responsibilities which require a long term view of economic and political questions. The peoples of the Dominions might shrink from a closer association with the United States if it implied a weakening of Imperial ties within the British Commonwealth. But today the Englishspeaking nations are closer than ever before to a common understanding. The United States Government is increasing its practical support of Britain’s war effort. By exchanging 50 destroyers for leasehold rights in the Wes* Indies and in Newfoundland, the two Governments made it easier for a similar policy of collaboration to be followed in the Pacific region. When it becomes clear that a closer association with the United States is a way of strengthening, rather than of weakening, the Commonwealth system, a defence agreement in the Pacific may be within the reach of practical politics.