ISSUES AT STAKE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 June 1939, Page 7

ISSUES AT STAKE

FATE OF ACCUSED MEN OVERSHADOWED JAPANESE THREATS CREATE NEW POSITION. BRITAIN BOUND TO PROTECT INTERESTS. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.37 a.m.) RUGBY, June 16. Developments leading to the grave situation in Tientsin have been so rapid as hardly to,give an opportunity for a just appreciation of the issues raised by the Japanese blockade of the British and French Concessions. The position as it appears to British official circles was restated today, and it was pointed out that in certain eventualities Britain would be compelled to consider immediate active steps to protect British interests in China.

It is recalled that the situation in Tientsin has- arisen owing to the Japanese demand for the surrender of ■ four Chinese alleged by the Japanese to be implicated in the murder of' another Chinese in the British Concession on April 9. The standpoint of the British authorities has been that hitherto sufficient evidence has not been forthcoming to establish a prima facie case which would justify handing over these four men, at present held in detention by the Municipal Police, to the local district court, and it should be noted that the Japanese have consistently refused to furnish evidence. As has already been made clear, however, the British authorities have agreed to submit this aspect of the question to the judgment of an independent advisory committee of three reputable persons. under a neutral chairman. The Japanese would have been represented on this committee, and America agreed to nominate a member. The purpose of the proposed committee was to advise whether, in its opinion, the evidence available against the four accused was in fact adequate to justify their being handed over for trial. Britain was prepared to bind herself beforehand to accept whatever conclusion this body might reach, but even this proposal did not find favour in the eyes of the Japanese in Tientsin, who decided to proceed with their plans for imposing a blockade of the British and French Concessions. It is emphasised that the British offer to submit the evidence against the accused to this advisory committee has not been withdrawn. Meanwhile far graver issues have been raised by statements received from local Japanese authorities in China. Recently, it may be recalled, Britain, America and France found it necessary to make representations in Tokio regarding statements by the spokesman of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on May 24, which seriously threatened the treaty rights of foreign powers in China. Such statements recently have been sharpened in a threatening manner by the Japanese spokesman in Tientsin. It is clear from these statements, the surrender of the four accused men is no longer regarded as the reason for the imposition of measures against the British Concession. While, therefore, the position regarding the four arrested Chinese remains as described above, British circles cannot but take the most serious view of the further demands which have been made and which

raise the widest issues affecting the rights of all those Powers which have treaty rights in China. They would mean the abandonment, under threats of force, of the policy which Britain has followed in the past, which is the same as that of other Great Powers with interests in the Far East.

It is still hoped that the Japanese may not maintain their refusal to give further consideration to the proposals which have been made to localise the incident, but in authoritative quarters in London it was left in no doubt that if, unhappily, the new demands foreshadowed from official Japanese sources in North China should be persisted in, then an extremely serious situation will have arisen and Britain will have to consider what immediate active steps she can take for the protection of British interests in China.