OCCUPATION OF JAPAN

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 66, Issue 62, 22 December 1945, Page 5

OCCUPATION OF JAPAN

REPORTED DISAGREEMENT WITH SOVIET General MacArthur Denies Broadcast (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright.) (Received This Day, 9.30 a.m.) TOKIO, December 21. Russia has not only abandoned all plans to send occupation forces to Japan as the result of a disagreement with General MacArthur, but has also disapproved the use of Australians for the same purpose, says the correspondent of the American Broadcasting Company. He claimed to- have obtained his infor- * mation from a reliable source.

Russia’s attitude, he added, was that if Russia did not occupy Hojkaido, Australia should not occupy Kyushu. He claimed that as the result of Russia’s disapproval, General MacArthur had cancelled the departure of a transport carrying Australian troops to Japan (presumably from an Australian port).

General MacArthur’s Chief of staff, Lieut.-Genera! Richard Sutherland, in an interview at Honolulu on his way to the United states, said that British and Australian troops would land in Japan. General MacArthur said the statements in the broadcast had absolutely no basis in fact. "For the second time in recent weeks it becomes necessary for me to deny an allegation that I have threatened to resign. I am here to serve, not hinder or obstruct, the American Government. It is my full purpose to see the thing through. The question of Russian participation in the occupation is a matter for other decision than my own. If the correspondent made the statement he is alleged to have broadcast from Tokio, someone must have been feeding him the funny type of hooch, which is being peddled around Tokio on. the black market.” •

Prince Konoye’s- memoirs, which are now in the hands of the chief w r av crimes prosecutor, state that there was no doubt of the Emperor’s sincere wish at all times for peace. They condemn Japan’s system of government which permitted free rein to the army.

no Japanese mass migration to China; (8) the recognition Of Manchuria.

The Japanese officers and guards at the Mitsushima Prison camp, near Tokio, attempted to mislead the representative of the International Red Cross Into the belief that Red Cross supplies were freely distributed to Allied prisoners of war by establishing “fake” canteens, which disappeared half an hour after the representative’s visit concluded, according to evidence at the trial of Tatsuo Tsuchiya. The statement was made in an affidavit by Lieutenant-Colonel Allen Cory, a Bataan prisoner, who was one of those whom Tsuchiya is accused of manhandling. When the Red Cross representative, who was identified only as Pestalozzo, visited the camp, the authorities established a canteen, the shelves of which were stocked with Red Cross supplies, which had been sent to prisoners, but which the guards diverted. The Japanese attempted to give the impression that it .was regularly open to British and Americans. Lieutenant-Colonel Cory’s affidavit said the prisoners were told before Pestalozzo’s visit: “You must answer all questions favourably to the Japanese.” But instead the prisoners told him about the bad food, lack of clothing, improper diet, medical treatment, brutal heatings, filthy living conditions and misappropriation of Red Cross supplies. Pestalozzo told the prisoners it was a regrettable position, but Japan was not a signatory of the Geneva Convention and the prisoners were treated according to regulations laid down by the Japanese High Command. Prisoners giving evidence to Pestalozzo were subsequently punjgked The Supreme Court decided to hear oral arguments on July 1 whether or not to intervene in the Yamashita trial. Meanwhile it is withholding action on Yamashita’s petitions challenging the authority of the military commission at Manila and requesting a hearing before the Supreme Court.

‘‘While the Government was carrying out negotiations with all its might, the army was pushing ahead with its war preparations, but the Government did not know what the preparations were. The movement of ships and mobilisation moves became known in the United States, creating doubt in the United States of the sincerity of the negotiations. The army wanted war, and the navy would not or could not oppose the army. The Emperor remarked to me, ‘lt is regrettable about the army.’ ” Prince Konoye commented in his memoirs on the fact that the Emperor rarely expressed an opinion to the degree that it might be thought he was too hesitant. “Although it was proper that the Emperor should be passive in peacetime,” Prince Konoye added, "such passivity when the country was standing at the crossroads of peace or war led to extreme difficulties.”

The memoirs reveal that the Japanese Cabinet, with full Army and Navy support, agreed in May, 1941, to ac'cede to the American demands for a withdrawal from China. The memoirs contain ample evidence of Japan’s conviction that the China adventure was a complete fiasco and disastrously weakening the Empire. The Cabinet’s decision to withdraw from China was conditional upon both sides refraining from making public the peace conditions as Japan would lose too mueh face. Japan agreed to the following terms: (1) Chinese independence; (2) the withdrawal of the Japanese forces; (3) non-annexation of Chinese territory; (4) no reparations; (5) the restoration of the open door policy; (6) 'the amalgamation of Chiang’s and Wang Ching Wei’s Government; (7)