The Auckland Star WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. FRIDAY JANUARY 7. 1935. JAPAN AT CROSSROADS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 5, 7 January 1938, Page 6

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

FRIDAY JANUARY 7. 1935. JAPAN AT CROSSROADS.

For th-e cause that tacks assistance, For the icrony thai needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

I Simultaneously with news of the fresh '-ucce-- of Japanese arms in the Shantung | area in China conies ominous warnings from ,j within of the instability of the former << country's financial position. The war has now progressed for almost six months, and out of the confusion of rumour and counter-rumour, claim and counter-claim, two salient- facts obtrude themselves. One is that the war will not. as the Japanese thought, be short. The i other is the doubt as to whether the nation can bear the terrific and increasing financial t burden. Many people, too, are wondering exactly what the ordinary Japanese citizen thinks of the whole afiair. There was a European nation in 1914 which thought t-o finish another war in six months. History has shown how false that conclusion was. Now Japan has made the same mistake, though, indeed, there was more excuse for her. But ■ the fact remains that though the military situa- • tion is at present favourable to the stronger Power, China is by no means beaten. What will the future bring forth? It is hard even to make an estimation. If the Chinese armies were scattered, the morale of the people broken. Japan might possibly in the years to come —but only in the years to come, and at great cost —found another Empire. But if the > Chinese spirit remains unbroken, and guerilla > warfare develops and continues, Japan may 'j find her newly occupied territory what found Spain, a "running sore," and ri it may end in Japan's downfall just as the j Iberian peninsula campaign was assuredly ; as largely responsible for Napoleon's. 1 From the scattered and incomplete information available it is not possible to compute what the war has already cost Japan, but a few figures are enlightening. In August last, when the war had but little time begun, the Japanese Cabinet approved a supplementary Budget of £24,000,000, while a sum of £5,700,000 had already been voted. Later in 5 the same month the army and navy prepared i estimates totalling £200,000,000 for the } campaign. Next month again the Diet ) approved a loan of £119,000,000, while in , October the Bank of Japan underwrote a Government loan of £11,600,000. Last month a loan of £35,000,000 was issued. It is not possible to say whether these are all separate, 1 cumulative amounts, or whether part of one t loan refers to a previous one, but however that ' may be, the aggregate sum is terrific. ! It is difficult to look for any impersonal attitude among the citizens of a country at war, and thus it is hard to assess the real Japanese reaction to the somewhat unusual ;• trend—to the Japanese, anyway—that events - have taken. An observer, writing in the '•Round Table," however, says that the people j are not waging war with enjoyment or enthusiasm. There are many signs, too, that 1 they do not like the way things have developed, • while some are plainly puzzled at the dimensions the conflict has taken.