FATE OF INDO-CHINA

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21211, 6 September 1940, Page 7

FATE OF INDO-CHINA

FRENCH COLONY’S POSITION COMPLICATED SITUATION A virtual orphan of the war on the other side of the world, this sprawling French Oriental outpost anxiously is eyeing the major world capitals for a clue to the future, states the Christian Science Monitor, regarding the fate of Indo-China. Governor General Darmee Catroux, appointee of former French Premier Daladier, continues to exercise full powers while his nominal successor, Admiral Jean Decoux, appointee of Premier Petain, has avoided assumption of office for reasons best known to himself.

The special Japanese Commission sent here ostensibly to enforce the ban on supplies moving to China has busied itself with the expansion of Japanese influence, particularly in vital economic fields. The tentative British-French understanding of June 28 for preservation of their Far Eastern status quo has been clouded by Britain’s subsequent pounce on the French fleet. Despite the Hull and .R,oosevelt pronouncements, there have been expressions of disappointment and resentment against the United States. One burning question of the moment is the American attitude toward thawing frozen credits; another is Whether the United States will release aircraft separately to IndoChina. An Indo-China Mission is bound for Washington by clipper plane to try to get the answer to both questions. The conclusion of a trade agreement with Japan, providing for 70 per cent of trade by barter, may offset to a small degree the severe blow dealt by the sealing of the lifeline to China. Besides shutting off the flow of ingoing supplies, the Japanese closed the entire Gulf of Tonkin, and Indo-China’s prosperous trade in Chinese exports dried up almost overnight. The concern over Indo-China’s fate is easily explained by its vast rubber plantations, rice fields, anthracite, zinc, and phosphate mines.