ON THE PART OF JAPAN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 August 1941, Page 5

ON THE PART OF JAPAN

Vice-Admiral Toyoda’s Declaration REPORTS OF INCREASING PRESSURE ON THAILAND IN SPITE OF DENIAL OF DEMANDS LONDON, August ](). Despite the denial by Tokio that Japan is making economic demands on Thailand reports from Bangkok indicate that she is increasing her pressure, backed by armed forces on the border, says the Kong Kong correspondent of “The Times.” No encirclement could turn Japan aside from the road which she was treading, said the Japanese Foreign Minister, ViceAdmiral Toyoda, in an interview with Axis newspaper correspondents. Japan was not remaining indifferent to any new measures threatening her security or that of Eastern Asia, he said. The so-called Japanese expansion in the south was really purely a pacific policy destined to establish relations between Japan and southern regions which would be advantageous to the whole world.

The Tokio correspondent of the “New York Times” says the Japanese Press continues to denounce the alleged encirclement and issue warnings of the consequences. The spokesman of the Cabinet Information Bureau, Mr Ishii, has qualified his refutation of the denial of such encirclement, made by 1 the British Foreign Secretary, Mr Eden, with the declaration that it is subject to further scrutiny, but- other spokesmen and the Press make no qualifications whatsoever.