EASE AT GUAM VETOED

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20741, 27 February 1939, Page 6

EASE AT GUAM VETOED

American logic in the policy in the Pacific is strange, to say the least of it. After the Naval Affairs Committee had recommended a Bill providing for £10,000,000 for naval and air bases in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, the House of Representatives has rejected that part of the scheme aimed at the fortification of Guam Island, “because it would constitute a provocative act that could hardly fail to alarm Japan.” Japan is probably already “alarmed” at fortifications elsewhere, and perhaps is equally determined to take all that is available as a free gift in the meantime. Most people were of the opinion that a little “alarm” was precisely what Japan should have for the good of her neighbours.

Guam is certainly within striking distance of Japan and of islands in the Pacific which she is reported to be fortifying in violation of the League of Nations mandate. But Japan would know just as well as the United States that the fortification of Guam would mean a check to Japan only if she began an aggressive southward movement. Perhaps America is satisfied that her trans-Pqeifie air routes and her possessions in the Pacific areh are safe from Japanese attack, but apparently her Naval Affairs Committee is not of that opinion.

Japan is probably well satisfied with the veto of the scheme by the House of Representatives. She is now putting forth her utmost efforts to crush China and has no time to quarrel about America’s protective works. In the meantime she is showing a hearty contempt for American interests in China, and no doubt when the time comes she will be just as insistent regarding areas farther afield. Probably nothing but the alarm which American politicians are so concerned about will persuade her that her dream of domination of the Pacific and of the world is out of harmony with the interests of several other nations.