DUTCH IN JAPAN

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 188, 11 August 1941, Page 7

DUTCH IN JAPAN

ADVISED TO LEAVE

Canadian And U.S. Businesses Near Collapse United 1 re*- Associ.iiion. — Copyright. Rec. 2 p.m. NEW YORK. Aug. 10. The correspondent of the I'nitcd Press at Tokyo reported that the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company had ordered the closing of all offices throughout Japan and had instructed the personnel to return to Canada. Informed sources said that Canadian and American business interests in Japan were ncaring collapse as the result of the rigid Japanese retaliatory regulations regarding the freezing of assets. The National Broadcasting Corporation picked up a Tokyo radio saying that the Dutch Consul-General in Shanghai had asked Dutch nationals to leave without delay, and a similar request was made to the Dutch in Japan The Tokyo correspondent of the Xew York "Herald-Tribune."' Mr. Joseph Newman, in a copyright message. says: "The Japanese admit, although reluctantly, that they miscalculated in estimating the developments in the Russo-German war. and therefore under-estimated the price they would pay for the occupation of Indo-China. "They placed so much confidence in Hitler's judgment and the strength of the German armies that they accepted without question Berlin's time schedule. '"It is fair to assume that Japan would ha\e preferred w> await American participation in the European war before moving into IndoChina. because American involvement against the Nazis would ease American pressure against Japan.

" The outbreak of the RussoGerman war. in the opinion of the Japanese, postponed American participation. thereby interfering with Japans original plan. LieutenantCommander Ishimaru. an expert commentator, has pointed out that Germany let Japan down in attacking Russia, by making it possible for- the democracies to strengthen their position and enabling Britain to release part of her fleet for the Far East.

German officials let it be known they expected the German armv to be m Moscow in about a fortnight; but the Germans failed, and in the meantime the democracies have greatly strengthened their militarv position in the South Seas area.

"Well informed observers do not believe Japan will risk a war against the democracies while the democracies can concentrate forces in the Far East and possibly secure the support of Russia in the north. .Many officials now expect a longdi awn-out war between Germanv and Russia, and therefore Japan must consider the possibility of a German defeat. For this reason it is considered unlikely that Japan can move in either direction at present."