IN INDO-CHINA.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 34, 20 November 1940, Page 6

IN INDO-CHINA.

A CONFUSED SITUATION. SERIOUS 'FIGHTING REPORTED. (United Press Association —Copyright) TOKIO, November 19. The Bangkok correspondent of the Tokio newspaper “Asalii,” reports that troops from Thailand and Indo-China have been engaged in serious fighting since Saturday in the jungles of the Mekong river, in south-eastern Thailand. The Government of Thailand has already mobilised 100,000 men, including reserves. The objective of the Thai troops is apparently Laos rather than Cambodia.

JAPANESE AGENCY REPORT.

FIGHTING ON A LARGE SCALE.

(Received This Day, 9.0 a.m.) SHANGHAI, November 19.

The Domei News Agency’s correspondent at Hanoi reports that is reported that troops on Monday clashed with Indo-China forces- near Pakse, on the upper Mekong river. He says: “Dispatches reported large-scale .fighting,'’ and that planes were, it is alleged, increasingly violating the Indo-China border. : .

The Havas News Agency’s Hanoi* correspondent says that the Japanese', issued a communique denying that the “navy is contemplating the eventuality of penetration in the southern zone of Indo-China.”

CLASH DENIED AT BANGKOK. (Received Tins Day, 9.50 a.m.) BANGKOK, November 19. Officials categorically denied Japanese reports of fighting on the Thailand frontier.

LOYALTY OF THE NATIVES. '

DEMONSTRATION IN CAMBODIA. (Received This Day, 9.50 a.m.) SHANGHAI, November 19. Havas’s correspondent at Hanoi said that 10,000 natives at Battambang, Southern Cambodia, on Sunday demonstrated their loyalty to the king and their French protectors. They also affirmed their determination “to keep the frontier provinces of Cambodia united with the rest of Indo-Chiiia.”