Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 1939. THE NEGOTIATIONS AT TOKIO.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 59, Issue 224, 5 July 1939, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 1939. THE NEGOTIATIONS AT TOKIO.

With the critical developments in connections with Danzig public attention has been diverted from the negotiations now opening at Tokio for a settlement of the Japanese blockade of Tientsin. The conditions that have prevailed there during recent weeks cannot be permitted to continue. Not only do they offer an affront to British prestige, ®not alone in China and the Far East but throughout the world, but they also engender, feelings that might at any moment lead to more serious occurrences. As in the West, Britain in China is prepared to enter into free and equal negotiations for the removal of grievances but she is determined not to yield to force. It is a hopeful sign that after japan’s truculent assertions against Britain the Government at Tokio has agreed to enter into negotiations, but it is no easy task that confronts the representatives of Britain. The great difficulty is that while Japan has adopted a form of Parliamentary government modelled on that of Britain she is still influenced, by tradition, dating from her earliest days, under which the military caste was the ruling section of the. nation. Thus the army, and to a lesser extent the navy, exercises control over the political life of the people to an extent that brings .about serious complications in foreign policy. This explains the announcement a few days ago that the army leaders had stated their minimum requirements for the lifting of the Blockade. These conditions were: (1) Thorough British and Japanese action against terrorists in the British concession; (2) Drastic control of antiJapanese elements in the concession, (3) British co-operation in the economic policy of the Japanese-sponsored Government of North China; (4) The handing over of 48,000,000 Chinese dollars held in the Chinese banks in the concession. Even if the first two conditions may be conceded as coming within the sphere of military control, the other two are, to British minds, purely matters of policy for c *vil Government. Whether those demands will be pressed to the utmost may be doubted, but the mere fact that the army authorities have formulated them and that they will be represented at the conversations indicates the delicate nature of the negotiations. The one hope of a satisfactory outcome is that the Tokio Government may be prepared to start the discussions on a more reasonable basis and not yield to pressure by the hotheads of the army.