THE PRESIDENT AND JAPAN

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 205, 30 August 1941, Page 6

THE PRESIDENT AND JAPAN

tankers sailed from a Pacific Coast port on August 16, carrying aviation petrol for Soviet Russia. On their way to Vladivostok they will pass "under the very nose of Japan." and the Japanese have naturally become acutely conscious of the fact that although aviation spirit is denied to them, under President Roosevelt's "freezing" order, it is going to Russia for use against their Axis partner, and, conceivably, for use against them.. It seems that this happening has caused the Japanese authorities, or some of them, to pause on the path along which they have been advancing, and to wonder whether it is the only path open to them. And the significance of the negotiations in Washington can only be that the United States Government is endeavouring to convince the Japanese that there is an alternative path, which they can follow with immediate benefit to their country. How far the negotiations have gone, and what prospects there are of their success, we do not know; but we may feel glad that the dange-ous drift towards war in the Pacific has been, at least temporarily, arrested, and that Mr. Roosevelt, who has taken charge of the negotiations, evidently has done so with the hope and belief that it is not impossible to reverse it. The way of the peacemaker, or the peace-preserver, is very hard in wartime, when there exists a fatalistic belief that, inevitably, the war must spread; but it is the course of statesmanship to see that nothing is left undone which might prevent it from spreading.

It is encouraging to read of unmistakable indications that some Japanese, also, are glad of the negotiations, for it has seemed for many months now that Japanese policy was irrevocably fixed on the idea of expansion, that the only question left unsettled was that of when the further expansion moves were to be launched, and that this would be determined in the light of circumstances as they aiose. There is no reason yet to believe that that is not still the position, but it is obvious that the "circumstances" which have arisen have led the Japanese to think deeply. It has been made plain to them, not only by words, but by actions, that their attempt to imitate, in the Pacific, Hitler's "one by one" policy in Europe will not be tolerated. Not only has a solid diplomatic front been raised against them, but economic sanctions have been jpplied, and naval and military movements in the Pacific constitute a warning that can be disregarded only at the certain risk of war. Mr. Rooaevelt, whose views upon "appeasement" are well known, is not negotiating because of weakness, but because of strength, and the Japanese will be well aware of that. Whether the President is trying to bring about a "standstill" agreement in the Pacific, or making a "bold bid to detach Japan from the Axis, is not yet revealed. One of his principal difficulties will be to devise proposals which will be attractive to Japan and still be consistent with his obligations to China.