FRENCH HOPEFUL

Taranaki Daily News, 13 September 1940, Page 7

FRENCH HOPEFUL

CRISIS IN INDO-CHINA Rec. 9.30 a.m. New York, Sept. 11. French circles are hopefully turning to the United States since Mr. Cordell Hull's statement of America's desire for the preservation of the status quo in Indo-China, states a Hanoi report. Negotiations with the Japanese are virtually V'spended, apparently pending further Tokio instructions. However, General Decoux, the governor, and Major-General Nishihara, head of the Japanese inspecting mission, continue to dine together. Captain Chudoh, head of the Japanese naval delegation, commenting on Mr. Hull's statement, said that not only the Japanese navy but the entire nation desired that the United States confine its actions and words to its own hemisphere, leaving Japan free in the Orient. He added that the navy's interest in the negbtiations included naval bases and aerodrqmes. The outbreak cf Sino-Japanese hostilities within Indo-China is repoi ted in a dispatch from the official Central News Agency at Chungking. It adds that the Chinese are fighting 2000 Japanese just across the frontier. Japanese Deniands. Arrivals from Indo-China at Singapore report that the Japanese demands (1) Three air bases in Tongking vvith 8000 personnel each. (2) Use of the Camranh Bay naval base. (3) Passage for 60,000 troops through Tongking. It Is declared that the Governor, Admiral Decoux, is holding out against the Japanese but cannot do so much longer, owing to pressure from the Vichy Government. One rc)x>rt says tliat Admiial recoux has already agreed that the Japanese should have Ihe right to three' acrodromos wilh 1000 personnel and the passage 20,000 troops. Another report is that Admiral Decoux has sent three tclegrams to President Roosevelt. The contents are unknown, but "it is believed he pointed out IndoChina's critiqal position, especially as 95 per cent. of the population is opposed to the Vichy Government and is for General de Gaulle."