LONG DISCUSSION AT STATE DEPARTMENT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 November 1941, Page 5

LONG DISCUSSION AT STATE DEPARTMENT

Admiral Nomura Afterwards in Jesting Mood WILD CHARGES IN JAPANESE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES UNITED STATES ACCUSED OF WARMONGERING LONDON, November 18. Mr Kurusu, Japan’s special envoy, had a second meeting with Mr Cordell Hull at the State Department today. The discussion lasted for two hours and a quarter. Japanese diplomats who accompanied Mr Kurusu said the situation was hopeful. The Japanese Ambassador, Admiral Nomura, who was with Mr Kurusu, greeted journalists with the question: “Why are your newspapers so gloomy?” He added: “You Americans are always in a fighting mood; why are you so war-minded?” Admiral Nomura laughed when a reporter remarked that the Japanese newspapers were not exactly peace-minded. In the Japanese Diet, the Foreign Minister, Mr Togo, said that Mr Kurusu carried no instructions to the United States, but that the outcome of the envoy’s mission would determine Japan’s interpretation of her obligations under her treaty of alliance. Another development is the passing by the Japanese House of Representatives of a resolution strongly criticising* the United States. One passage in the resolution stated that the greatest obstacle to a settlement of the China hostilities was the action of European nations led by the United States. Another accusation was that the United States is the real cause of the present world upheaval, not only by its encouragement of Chiang Kai-shek, but by its interference with Thailand, Burma and the Dutch East Indies. The desire of the United States for world leadership, the resolution declared, was the fundamental cause of the present war. The Japanese Prime Minister and Navy Minister said Japan was ready for any change in the situation.