The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1934. TWO JAPANESE VOICES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 277, 22 November 1934, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1934. TWO JAPANESE VOICES.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

The appeal for a naval agreement between Britain, Japan and the United States made by Viscount Admiral Saito is an intervention of first-class importance. Admiral Saito is both a naval officer and a statesman; his career, which has been very distinguished, has included the representation of his country at a naval conference; and lie was Prime Minister of Japan as late as July of this year. "When Admiral Saito says that the present preliminary discussions in London "must succeed for the peace of the world," and that "deliberate propaganda in all countries" threatens its success, lie criticises his own country as well as others. Indeed, seeing that Japan's insistence on equality is what is holding up the London conference, Admiral Saito's article may be considered to be primarily directed against his own Government. He has chosen as a vehicle for his effort for peace not a Japanese newspaper, but the "Christian Science Monitor," the most international journal in the world.

It would indeed be interesting to know how much following Admiral Saito has in Japan. It is well-nigh impossible for an outsider to gauge the extent of unorthodox opinion in so well-drilled a people. The demand for naval equality, however, may arise from the same motives as the German demand for equality in armaments. The Japanese Government may be determined to obtain the recognition of a right rather than to achieve a reality. The demand may be part of a general movement, the product of a sense of inferiority, to put Japan on a level with other nations in all respects. Japan's strategical position is such that something less than naval equality may well' suffice for all her needs. The object of her naval policy is defined by a well-known English expert in a recent article as the consolidation of her strategic position so as to render armed foreign interference in Eastern Asia impossible. "That goal is now in sight, if it has not already been attained. Japan keeps no warships in foreign waters, nor does she possess oversea bases other than the mandated South Sea islands. Her whole naval force is concentrated in home waters, where, thanks to geography and a first-class fleet, her position is practically impregnable. Judging from experience, no argument, however plausible, no gesture however persuasive, will move her to reduce her naval armament by a single ton or a single gun below the standard which she deems necessary." Having obtained a 3—5 ratio of strength at Washington, subsequently increased at London, Japan is now demanding "parity in principle," and apparently will be satisfied with nothing less. If Japan is adamant, Britain and the United States will have the choice of conceding this equality, hoping that Japan will not build up to it, or risking a failure when the conference proper meets next year.