HANOI PACT

Taranaki Daily News, 24 September 1940, Page 7

HANOI PACT

JAPANESE GAIN FRENCH INDO-CHINA TERMS OF AGREEMENT Rec. 9.35 p.m. Haiphong, Sept. 23. An agreement between the Japanese and French has been signed, and fighting which began yesterday in Indo-China has ceased. ,The agreement, which becomes effective iipmediately, provides for the entrance for garrisoning pur-. poses of 6000 Japanese troops via Haiphong and the use of three airports in Tongking, including Phuto and Kaokay, or the PhulangthoungGialam railway. The Governor-General of IndoChina, Admiral de Coux, issued a' proclamation in which he stated the agreement conformed to a "realistic policy." He said Japan had agreed to recognise Indo-China's integrity and France's sovereignty. Admiral de Coux added that the army com-mander-in-chief, General Maurice Martin, supported the arrangement "Units of the' Japanese army and navy to-day started a. peaceful advance through Indo-China," said an official joint communique issued by the two ser•vices this morning. Border Clash. Japanese troops crossed the border last night and attacked Dong Dang, on the north-east frontier of Indo-China. Ihe French fully resisted the attacks, which •were suspended at midnight. Ihe Japanese assaulted Dong Dang contrary to ihe Franco-Japanese agreement giving the Japanese certain military facilities, in- % cluding airfields, said officials at Hanoi. In connection with last night's FrancoJapanese "incidents" on the Indo-China border, an authorised source at Tokio declares that the Japanese in no way "invaded" Indo-China. They were merely entering the territory in accordance with the terms of the agreement, permitting them to pass troops. That the French resisted them must have been due to a misunderstanding, but the matter was soon settled amicably. It is officially stated that "a small number of Japanese troops are dead or wounded as , a result of the Dong Dang clash." The Foreign Qffice spokesman, Mr. Yakichiro Suma, attributed the skirmish to delay in communicating the terms of the agreement to French border officers. Mr. Suma said Japan was, entirely • without territorial designs in Indo-China and did not intend to provoke the French. Inasmuch as the agreement was based on peaceful talks between the two countries, there could be no objection to it from any foreign country.