NEW GOVERNMENT

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 62, Issue 6, 18 October 1941, Page 5

NEW GOVERNMENT

UNITED STATES REACTION. TO MEET FORCE WITH FORCE. A NAVAL COMPARISON. (United Press Association—Copyright.) LONDON, Oct. 17.' The Japanese Minister for War (Lieutenant-General Eikj Tojo) is to lead a new Government, following the resignation of Prince Konoye’s Cabinet. Lieutenant-General Tojo has been, Minister for War for more than a year. He is a former military attache to the Japanese Embassy in Berlin. He was Chief-of-Staff of the Japanese Army in North China until 1937, when he was recalled to be Vice-Minister for War. He was appointed DirectorGeneral of Military Aviation in 1938. Japanese newspapers continue to warn the people of the extreme gravity of the situation, putting the blame on the United States.

The Japanese crisis overshadows even the Russian situation in United States radio comment. There is discussion of the effect of militarist leadership in Tokio. The Washington correspondent of the “New York Times” said yesterday: “There is an apparent determination in official quarters to meet force with force if, as a result of the Tokio crisis, Japan should move into Siberia, the Netherlands East Indies, or Thailand. The United States Government is calm and determined. It is convinced that further economic and political manoeuvres to check Japan’s expansionism would be futile. “It is reported in usually reliable official quarters that methods of meeting naval and military contingencies were discussed by Mr Roosevelt with the Inner War Council to-day. “The State Department and the Japanese Embassy said that their advices did not yet reveal the true situation in Japan. Two possibilities are foreseen here. One is that Prince - 1 Konoye resigned in order to bring Imperial support behind his policies. If this is the case, and he is successful, it will be greeted with relief. The other view is that Prince Konoye failed in bis programme, that the negotiations with the United States will now be terminated, and that the ultra-na-tionalists will control the Government. It is believed in Washington that this , would mean that Japan is bent upon military, and perhaps naval, expansion, and will move north in Siberia or south into Indo-China, or in both directions simultaneously.” Reinforcing National Unity. In Tokio the newspaper “Nichi Nichi” quoted Admiral Sankichi Takahashi as saying: “I admit that in numbers, at present and in the future, thq ¥ Japanese Navy is unable to match a certain country’s navy. However, our r navy has been training to overcome that superiority. No longer is it a question of numbers,, but of morale and technique, for which reason the Japanese people may rest assured.” The other navy referred to is obviously the United States Navy. “Nichi Nichi” further states that Japan is resolved to break through the impasse with the United States and that the people are united in de monstrating unflinching power., The Tokio newspaper “Asahi” says: “Since the Cabinet has resigned on account qf disagreement and disunity, it can only he expected that the next Cabinet will be headed by a person who will buckle down to the task.of reinforcing national unity with faith and with personal courage.” The Domei Agency recalls that it was Prince Konoye who opened negotiations with America in the face o strong Japanese opposition, following the freezing of Japanese assets by the United States. - Japanese military 1 spokesmen have issued stern warnings to the Japanese people. The director of the Second Division of the Japanese General Stall said that the Japanese movetoward. peace through negotiations with the United States might end m failure.