JAPANESE DEMAND

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 July 1940, Page 6

JAPANESE DEMAND

REPORTED REJECTION BY BRITAIN CONVEYANCE OF ARMS TO CHINA. BY WAY OF BURMA ROUTE. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, July 4. The Tokio correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain says it is reliably stated that Britain has refused the Japanese demand to close the arms route across Burma to the Chinese interior. INTERESTS INVOLVED CONSIDERATION IN BRITAIN. LONDON. July 3. It is stated in London that the Japanese demands regarding the stopping of supplies through Burma to Chungking are being examined with care; yet with a desire to avoid increased tension in the Far East, but the questions, involving the interests of other Powers as well as Great Britain, cannot be answered without considering the effects of the British Government’s action on the other countries concerned. The Dominions are said to come within the scope of “the other countries concerned.”

A Singapore message states that, in continuation of the defence precautions previously announced, an order has been issued forbidding the movement of small craft in Singapore territorial waters between sunset and sunrise.

FIRMER POLICY INSISTED ON BY ARMY IN JAPAN. BASED ON PRESENT GERMAN “ASCENDANCY.” TOKIO. July 4. It is reported from an authoritative source that the army is planning to insist that the Government adopt a stronger foreign policy based on Germany’s present ascendancy. It is authoritatively stated that General Hata, representing the army leaders, after a series of conferences, presented the Premier. Admiral Yonai, with a statement disagreeing with the recent speech by the Foreign Minister, Mr Arita, outlining Japan’s policy in the Far East and South Seas on the grounds that it was weak, and misrepresented the services' views and was too conciliatory to the Meanwhile the single party movement advanced when the Nakajima faction of the Seiyukai group voted for dissolution. The army and Foreign Office later jointly announced a settlement of the differences over Mr Arita’s speech. The vernacular Press asserted that Mr Arita apologised to Admiral Yonai and assumed responsibility for a leakage to the Press of Mr Arita’s radio speech. FOOD PROBLEM REASON FOR EVACUATION FROM HONG KONG. MANILA, July. 4. An evacuee, the wife of a British military leader, said the evacuation of Hong Kong was for the purpose of relieving the food problem. It was like ly to be a lengthy blockade. She said London had informed Hong Kong that Britain will refuse the Japanese demands to close Burma and ordered the evacuation to strengthen the resistance against the blockade and also strengthen the British hand in future negotiations, thus preventing an appeasement move similar to that ol the Tientsin negotiations. She added that the British action was evidently planned in co-ordination with United States resistance and pressure. She emphasised that Hong Kong never anticipated an invasion.