REALITIES IGNORED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 February 1941, Page 5

REALITIES IGNORED

JAPANESE MEDIATION OFFER

COMMENT IN LONDON.

ASSURANCES AND ACTIONS.

(By Telegraph—Press A&ioelation—Copyright) LONDON. February 20. It is .‘inihoritalively stated in London that the Japanese offer of medial ion showed lit!lt* knowledge of the conditions Japan’s Axis partners have produced in Europe and also took no account of the determination of the British, often voiced by Mr Churchill, to light without compromise for the defeat of Hitlerism.

"The Times” says the Japanese assurances must necessarily be interpreted in the light of Jajxinese actions which nobody could regard as reassuring. The main cause for uneasiness in the Far East was the Three-Power Pact, which was everywhere construed as a threat against the United States if she persisted in helping Britain. The Japanese actions in Thailand and Indo-China and the pressure which Japan was obviously using against the Dutch Indies intensified the uneasiness.

It is reported from Batavia that the Netherlands East Indies Government has received a Japanese request to explore oil areas m the Netherlands East Indies, and has indicated its willingness tu specify certain areas. The Dutch authorities are reported to have signified their willingness on the condition that Dutch observers accompany the Japanese surveyors. According to the Domei agency, the Japanese Cabinet information bureau has said that Japan would certainly lake the initiative in mediation in the European War if she were invited to do so by the Powers concerned. Otherwise, it was explained, she was not in a jMisition, nor had she any intention, of posing as a mediator.