REACTION IN JAPAN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 November 1941, Page 5

REACTION IN JAPAN

TO BRITISH PREMIER’S WARNING VAGUE TALK BY GENERAL TOJO. ' JEERING PRESS COMMENT. (By Telegraph—Press Association-Copyright) LONDON, November 11. Mr Churchill’s warning toJapan of war within the hour if she conies into conflict with the United States is the subject of considerable comment in Tokio. The Prime Minister, General Tojo, appealed for co-operation in the achievement of Japanese national. policy. He said Japan was at the crossroads. The official Japanese news agency seeks to interpret Mr Churchill’s words as an indication of Britain’s anxiety to preserve peace in the Far East. The “Hochi Shimbun” describes the British Prime Minister’s speech as “laughable.” The “Nichi Nichi Shimbun” says Britain is attempting to draw the United States into war with Japan to protect her “crumbling interests” in the Far East. WARM RESPONSE IN ALL DEMOCRATIC COUNTRIES. FAR EAST SITUATION NOT HOPELESS. LONDON, November 11. The warning issued to Japan by the Prime Minister, Mr Churchill, that if the United States became involved in war with Japan, Britain would make a declaration within the hour has been received with enthusiasm in all parts of the democratic world. The “New York Times” says the declaration must have had an ominous ring for Japan. The situation in the Far East, though serious is not hopeless. Bangkok radio last night again warned Thailand to be ready for war. A Chungking spokesman predicted that the next Japanese move would be in Yunnan Province, aimed at cutting the Burma Road, and said that the Japanese now had 120,000 men in French Indo-China, or more than three times the number stipulated in the agreement with Vichy. TIME FOR SHOWDOWN JAPAN IN NAVAL TRAP. SENATE CHAIRMAN HOPES FOR SETTLEMENT. WASHINGTON, November 10. The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator T. Connally, who conferred with President Roosevelt today, said subsequently: “I confidently believe that troubles with Japan will shortly be settled and that when th e special Japanese envoy, Mr ■ Kurusu, arrives in a spirit of amity and peace a new adjustment can be reached. Japan does not want war because she does not want to be destroyed.” Commenting on Mr Churchill’s statement, Major Fielding Eliot, writing in the “New York Herald-Tri-bune,” says: “It is impossible to escape the conclusion that at London and Washington, and perhaps in Moscow, decisions have been ' .taken, i of farreaching importance and that for Japan the hour of decision and destiny is now at hand. Japan has sown the wind; she is now about to garner the whirlwind.

“It is all but impossible for any Japanese Government to extricate itself from the situation brought about by successive acts of past governments. The presence of a powerful British naval force at Singapore is the last thing needed to close the gate of hope in the face of Japanese ambitions. The Japanese are neatly trapped in a naval pincers between Singapore and Sourabaya on the one hand, with Hong Kong, Manila, Hawaii and outlying bases on the other.” Appeasement of the Japanese would have the same chance of success as Mr Chamberlain’s appeasement of Herr Hitler, said a former Chief of Naval Operations, Rear-Admiral Yarnell, in a broadcast address. “It would be better in every way if Britain and the United States forced a showdown with Japan now,” he said, and warned the United States that if Japan got' control of Singapore, it would force the withdrawal of the American and British navies from the Far East. Singapore was as essential to the United States as to Britain, he said. The Japanese Cabinet spokesman, Mr Ishii, referring to Mr Churchill’s warning to Japan, said: “We would be surprised if Mr Churchill had not said so. He is following the example of Colonel Knox (U.S. Naval Secretary). Mr Churchill must have enjoyed sounding his views.” TALKS IN TOKIO SIR R. CRAIGIE VISITS FOREIGN OFFICE, LONDON, November 11. The British Ambassador, Sir Robert Craigie, visited the Japanese Foreign Office today, a Tokio message states. ’ It adds that it is believed a discussion took place regarding Mr Churchill’s Mansion House speech. The Australian Premier, Mr Curtin, who has been having discussions with the Advisory War Council and the Deputy Commander-in-Chief, Middle East, General Blarney, said in Canberra today that the talks .revealed that the cohesion between the Pacific democracies had been greatly strengthened on land, at sea and in the air. BOASTING & THREATS BY JAPANESE FINANCE MINISTER. NEW YORK, November 10. The Tokio correspondent of the “New York Times,” Otto D. Tolischus, contrasts the flexible formulas so far employed by both General Tojo, the Prime Minister, and Mr Togo, the Foreign Minister, to effect Japan’s policies for reaching the “co-prosperity

sphere,” with the declaration by the Finance Minister, Mr Kaya, today, that it was also Japan’s aim to force Britain and the United States to retreat from East Asia. Mr Kaya told the Financial Council that the empire was filled with hopes for an epochal rise and expansion, but it was not entirely free from the danger of falling should it fail to choose the proper path. The only thing upon which Japan could rely was her own strength. Mr Kaya admitted that the AngloAmerican freezing policies had brought a grave transition periodfor Japanese ■ economy, which, he said, had spurred Japan’s efforts toward expanding her relations with the countries within the East Asia sphere.