PLENTY OF ACTION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 August 1943, Page 2

PLENTY OF ACTION

EXPECTED SOON IN PACIFIC AS OUTCOME OF QUEBEC DISCUSSIONS. MR STIMSON & DR. SOONG TAKING PART. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, August 22. The United States Secretary of War, Mr Stimson, will arrive at Quebec today. The Chinese Foreign Minister, Dr. Soong, is also expected to join the conference soon, said the President's secretary, Mr Early. The Associated Press says that the reason for Mr Stimson’s belated arrival is not disclosed and also no clue as to why Dr. Soong might come from Washington. It adds that the conference has apparently completed a blueprint for victory. This is emphasised by the fact that President Roosevelt spent the afternoon sightseeing after discussing war transport problems with Mr Churchill and Lord Leathers, British Minister of War Transport.

The Quebec correspondent of the “New York Times” says that the disclosure that Dr. Soong will shortly be conferring with Messrs. Roosevelt and Churchill indicates that the final sessions of the conference will involve great decisions on the war in the Pacific, including plans to carry the war closer to the Japanese homeland. He says that with the United Nations' forces striking northward from New Guinea, the Americans and Canadians moving from the Aleutians toward Japan and a big campaign against Burma in the planning stage, there will soon be plenty of action, in the Pacific.

A correspondent of the United Press of America says it is learnt that military strategists are conferring with President Roosevelt and Mr Churchill, who are considering plans to seek out and destroy the Japanese Fleet. It is said that mastery of the Mediterranean and the successful fight against Üboats make a Pacific offensive possible. The first problem is getting the Japanese fleet into the open, which could be accomplished by intensifying attacks on supply lines. Faced with a sea blockade, Japan would then be forced to employ her full seapower, which is believed to be weaker than the forces which the United Nations can soon send to the Pacific.