FRENCH INDO-CHINA.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 95, 24 April 1939, Page 6

FRENCH INDO-CHINA.

JAPAN'S COVETOUS EYE. (By FRAXK H. HEDGES.) TOKYO, March 4. Fantastic as it may eound to many abroad, there is a far from unimportant school of thought and group of Japanese who foresee the day when the rich colonial possessions of France immediately to the south of China will no longer lie French but Japanese assets. They are planning and working toward this end. Whether French Indo-Ghina and ite neigh- ' Soaring colony States shall become an out- ] right part of the Japanese E-mpire, or whether they shall be created into a nominally independent but actually Japanese-rontrolled country like Manehukuo is not yet decided. There can be no doubt that many Japanese, and probably the major number of Japanese Army officers, are suffering to-day from a severe attack of the Napoleonic complex. Japan's victories in China, coupled -with those of Mtler and Mussolini in the West, have gone to their heads. To them there is nothing that Japan x-annot accomplish. They have lost all sense ©f (limitation, and for them no dream 3s too ambiijous, for Japan to make it a •reality with and bayonets, with aero<planes and men-of-war, or perhaps only with threats. » T3ier« »re many in Japan who believe it ■will be meeessarj' for the Empire to fight another war in order to pay for the 'war with China. Certainly China, even if utterly defeated, cannet produce a cash indemnity that would recompense Japan for the .financial outlay of this unofficial war. Only Japanese control of 'Chinese Customs, trade and industry will do this. flTid that will require a Ion? period' of years. In the meantime, Japan's dc'bts .will have to be met. Siberia, with untold natural resources, and the French colonies in south-eastern Asia consequently are tempting to Japan's eyes. Time will be required before Siberia is able to pay cash dividends through development and exploitation, but French Inde-China would bring in quick returns and supply Japan with such vitally-needed raw materials as iron. Anti-French Sentiment. Eelations between France and Japan have ■been steadily worsening for more than a year. The shipment of munitions and other war material to the Chiang Kai-shek Government, via. French Indo-China, is much more than a thorn in Japan's side. Japan has retaliated by occupying the adjacent island of Hainan. When Masayiiki Tani was chosen as Japan's next Ambassador to Fiance, Paris refused to accept him, because of an antiFreiicli speech he made last summer, until and unless that speech was satisfactorily explained away. More recently, France has said that all Japan-made goods entering French territory must be accompanied by a certificate of origin from a French Consular agent, at which the Japanese waxed indignant.

With each ill-feeling existing, it is not surprising that anti-French sentiment should be voiced in the Diet. Yoshihani Yutani, a Japanese Rightist, stated there were points in the addresses of the Premier and Foreign Minister of which he could not approve, :>dding: ''When they touched on relations with Britain and France, the phraseology ljecame ambiguous and no clear-cut statements were made. Our enemy is not limited to' the Comintern."

The movement for seizing the French colonies is not sponsored by a sufficiently (strong and influential group as yet to put it across, but it gives appearance of growing daily. Its backers believe that France is virtually impotent, a«d that neither Great Britain nor any other Power would go to her aid if Japan attacked. Despite the strong French army stationed in Eastern Asia, Japan feels assured of a victory in a struggle between herself a7id France, and so might be willing to toss caution to the winds.—(Copyright: X.A.X.A.)