Relations With Japan

New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 131, 26 December 1941, Page 5

Relations With Japan

FTER the last war, the Versailles Treaty drew up a settlement, which some pes, thought would last, for Europe. But the problem of the Pacific still remained. As the United States had not joined the League of Nations, a special settlement was needed to stabilize the position in the Pacific. This was done at the Washington Conference in 1921 and 1922. The Chief Naval powers there entered into a Treaty limiting their navies. They fixed the ratios or proportions for the navies of Britain, the United States and Japan at five, five and three. They also agreed to a Treaty maintaining the status quo in the fortifications on Pacific Islands. And they guaranteed "the sovereignty, the independence, and the territorial and administrative integrity of China." At the same time Great Britain gave up her alliance with Japan. She did this largely out of deference to American and Canadian sentiment, preferring to draw closer to the English-speaking nations of the Western Hemisphere. Between Britain and the

United States a Gentleman’s Agreement was reached. Britain would control the Atlantic and safeguard America against attack from Europe; whilst America would look after their joint interests in the Far East, and keep most of her fleet in the Pacific("America’s Relations with Japan," by Professor Leslie Lipson, 2Y A, December 10.)