NOT TAKEN LIGHTLY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 August 1941, Page 6

NOT TAKEN LIGHTLY

BRITISH ACTION AGAINST JAPAN STATEMENT BY MR EDEN. THE THREAT TO THAILAND. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 11.20 a.m.) RUGBY, August 6. The Foreign Secretary, Mr Anthony Eden, wound up the House of . Commons war debate with a speech touching upon each of the main aspects of the international situation. After assuring the House that economic action against Japan had not been taken lightly, Mr Eden said: “The freezing order was seriously intended and will be seriously exercised.” The order did not, as some people appeared to believe, permit any transaction which was not expressly forbidden. It automatically forbade all trans* actions except those which were expressly permitted. Turning to the position of Thailand, Mr Eden said his Majesty’s Government had not failed to note that the Japanese papers had recently been using the same kind of language regarding Thailand as they employed before the Japanese demands for bases in Indo-China. The technique was just the same and it was for that reason on July 31 the British Ambassador to Tokio drew the attention of the Japanese Foreign Minister to the newspaper campaign, which alleged that Britain was intriguing in Thailand, that British emergency preparations were threatening Japanese interests and that, on that account. Thailand, in its own. interests, would come to an early understanding with Japan. The British Ambassador, Mr Eden continued, had pointed out that that kind of language could only mean that someone in authority in Japan was endeavouring to manufacture a case for Japanese intervention in Thailand, and he added that if a step of that kind were taken, it must inevitably give rise to a most serious situation between Britain and. Japan. Sir Robert Craigie then gave to the Japanese Foreign Minister most formal assurances that all those reports of British aggressive designs towards Thailand were, of course, baseless. We had now for over a century had friendly relations with Thailand. Our policy had no other object than to maintain those relations, but it was not less true that any actions which would threaten the independence and integrity of Thailand would be a matter of immediate concern to his Majesty’s Government, more particularly as threatening the security of Singapore. MIDDLE EAST POLICY. Dealing with the Middle Eastern situation, Mr Eden stated: “We have said ever and over again that this country has no territorial ambition in this war. We went to war to resist aggression, not to steal prizes or to pilfer loot. Having said that, it follows that there can be, on our part, only one policy towards all those nations who live between the areas bounded by the Suez Canal and the frontiers of India. For all these countries we have only one policy —we wish to see them live their own life in security and peace, as we claim our past action has shown. After the war in Iraq, we set up an independent Iraqui State and withdrew our forces. We should have to look far before we could find any similar action cf this kind by Hitlei’. When our hostilities with Germany and Italy are over, we shall do our utmost to assist those of the Middle East to enjoy a full and independent life. Meanwhile reinforce-

ments of men and material are pouring cut to strengthen our forces in the Middle East for their next forward plunge. I suggest to the lands of the Middle East that the blows these forces will strike will be sure blows struck for their own independence, as much as they are for ours. That fact carries with it a corollary. These countries must co-operate with us to be sure that they do not afford an opportunity to Germany or the Axis to create trouble, disturbances or upheavals.

WARNING TO IRAN. Mr Eden referred in this connection to Iran, where the arrival of a large number of German experts and tourists constituted a grave,danger to the independence of the country. His Majesty’s Government had in all fairness and sincerity given a warning of this danger to the Iran Government which he hoped they would heed. Turning to Turkey. Mr Eden said the foundation of our relations with her was the Anglo-Turkish Treaty, which we should continue loyally to observe, whatever the future held. “We believe,” he said; “that friend-' ship with this country can be a lasting contribution to European understanding."

“Some members have seen from time to time suggestions made by enemy propaganda that we might, have agreed to some arrangement or other at the expense of Turkey,” said Mr Eden. "There is, of course, not a shadow of truth in any such suggestion. We would, in fact, agree to nothing of the kind, nor in fact has any suggestion of that kind been made to us' by any Power. “The post-war world is going to require the collaboration of many States, great and small, and in that world Turkey, the modern Turkey, created by the genius of Ataturk, will have a part to play, and in that case Turkey will find her own course and choose her own collaborators. BULGARIA DENOUNCED. “There are other countries in the Near East about which I must speak in very different terms,” Mr Eden continued. “Bulgaria took the opportunity presented by the wanton attack made by Germany on Greece and on Yugoslavia to seize, under the Axis cloak, large areas of Greek and Yugoslav territory. Today, no doubt, she is well pleased with her ill-gotten gains, but she may rest assured that by ourselves or by our Allies the day of reckoning will come.”