Wairarapa Times-Age TUESDAY, JUNE 10, 1941. JAPAN GOING WARILY.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 June 1941, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age TUESDAY, JUNE 10, 1941. JAPAN GOING WARILY.

QNE of the best indications that Hitler’s mad-dog effort for victory is not making, even in the circle of his own associates, the impression he desires lo make, is Io be found in the attitude Japan has taken up in the latest phase of her long-continued trade negotiations with the Dutch blast Indies.

All the world knows that these negotiations were, from Japan’s standpoint, a thinly-veiled pretext for an attempt to gain complete, political and economic control over the Dutch Indies. Within the last day or 1 wo, -Japan has been rebuffed sharply and decisively by the Netherlands Government. Japanese proposals, accompanied by a peremptory demand for a reply within 24 hours, have been rejected, the Netherlands Government, in the words of a semi-official commentator, “having strictly maintained its stand for the independence of its economy and for measures lo prevent supplies reaching Germany.’’

The meekness with which -Japan appears to be accepting a setback which she certainly cannot find at all palatable suggests not only that she is aware of her own difficulties and dangers, but that she sees no hope of getting any help from her Axis partners. In dealing with any member of the Axis it is necessary to make a wide allowance for the possibility of deception and a sudden change of front, but on visible facts Japan ha,s excellent reasons for abandoning her recent attempts to ram the “new order in East Asia” policy down the throat of the Dutch East Indies. Her demands of a few days ago—virtually an ultimatum—show that she is prepared to do a certain amount of bluffing, but her present retreat indicates that she is chary of plunging, for the sake-of her Axis partners, into a war in the Pacific.

It is not in doubt that the present rulers of Japan would grasp eagerly at any easy opportunity of securing plunder, and would do so as untroubled as Hitler himself by any thought of morality or the rights of other nations. It is one thing, however, to be eager to pursue a policy of this kind and another to perceive the opportunity of doing so safely and with an assurance of profit. In spite of any encouraging statements made to Air Matsnoka during his recent tour of Europe, it- is fairly certain that .Japan’s relations with her Axis partners, though they are, of course, very willing that she-should create a diversion on their behalf, are as uncertain as ever, and that the neutrality pact with the Soviet also has brought Japan little comfort. It has been made clear, for example, that Russia will continue her aid to China.

The stand the Netherlands Indies have taken against Japan —a stand which extends and makes more effective the British blockade of the Axis—no doubt has been made possible in great part by the measures Britain has taken to strengthen her Far Eastern defences at Singapore and elsewhere, and not a little also by the declared attitude of the United States.

This last, factor may have counted most of all with Japan in inducing her to balk at the idea of plunging into a Pacific war. There is a warning to Japan, as well as to Germany and Italy, in the recent declaration of the American President that the United States will not tolerate Axis aggression against the Americas and does not mean to await passively the development of any such aggression. In a speech which was hailed as embodying a highly important extension of the Monroe Doctrine. President Roosevelt said the United States would resist the establishment by the Axis of bases for attack upon the Americas. Although, in making that declaration, President Roosevelt referred specifically to Dakar, the Azores and the Cape Verde Islands, his words most certainly cannot be regarded as having application only lo the Atlantic. They must be regarded as applying with equal force to the Pacific. Any doubt on the subject should be cleared up by the observations of the United States Secretary for the Navy (Colonel Knox) in a broadcast in which he thanked New Zealanders and Australians for the reception they gave recently to the officers and men of the United States fleet.

Our Pacific fleet (Colonel Knox said) is the most powerful armada afloat. It is fully capable •of .protecting the interests of democracy in tlie Pacific. It is not in our nature to stand idly by and watch the quick decay of everything worth while.

'lnking account not only of the factors liere touched upon, but of the enormous strain of her Avar in China, notv approaching the end of: its fourth year, with the end as far as ever from being in sight, Japan has excellent reasons for adopting the more moderate tone indicated in the latest phase of her negotiations with the Netherlands East Indies.