TENSION EASED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 August 1938, Page 6

TENSION EASED

IN MANCHUKUO BORDER CRISIS , JAPAN STILL SANGUINE SOVIET TERMS “ROUGHLY ACCEPTABLE” (Recd This Day, 11.30 a.m.) TOKIO, August 5. It is semi-officially declared that Japan is still sanguine of a peaceful settlement of the border question inasmuch as Foreign .Office representatives’believe that M. Litvinoff (Soviet Commissioner for Foreign Affairs) has not flatly rejected the Japanese proposals, while Japan is understood to regard Russia’s suggestions as "roughly acceptable.” . It can be said. that . tension has relaxed, and that , the position is more hopeful than since the outbreak of hostilities. Japan apparently holds the bulk of the disputed territory. TACTICAL VICTORY CLAIMED BY RUSSIA JAPAN TAUGHT A LESSON (Recd This Day, noon) LONDON, August 5. “The Times” Riga correspondent says Mr Shigemltsu’s premature truce proposals has convinced Moscow of Japan’s reluctance to extend the border operations beyond a local incident Moscow plumes itself on a tactical victory, forcing Japan into a defensive position after being taught a lesson she is not likely to forget. HOPES IN CHINA EXPECTATION OF FULL-DRESS WAR. SIGNIFICANT MOVEMENTS OF TROOPS. LONDON, August 5. “The Times” Peking correspondent says the Manchukuo border hostilities have caused the Chinese optimistically to predict a full-dress war, especially in view of the suspension of hostilities in North China and troop movements to Manchukuo, which indicate that Japan views the situation seriously. Six troop trains are daily leaving Mukden for the north, besides forces pouring into Mongolia through Kalgan and spreading along the frontier.