WAR PARTY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 247, 18 October 1941, Page 8

WAR PARTY

ON TOP IN JAPAN VISITOR'S COMMENT REVIEW OF SITUATION "Even though the change in the Japanese Cabinet places the army at the head of affairs, nominally as well as actually, I am not yet prepared to believe that the Japanese will cross the Rubicon, although obviously the war party is on top. The reason for this belief is that the Japanese must be very seriously thinking about the possible effect o*f such an act on their relations with America. During the last few months, at all events, their leaders have been left in no doubt concerning the reality of the union between the Allies in the Far Easfe from Malaya down to New Zealand."

This interesting commentary on the present political situation in Japan and its probable repercussions was made this morning by Mr. Edwin Haward, formerly editor of the North China Daily News, who was recently stationed in Singapore and is -at present in Auckland. Owing to ill health Mr. Haward is returning to England, accompanied by Mrs. Haward. He went to Singapore from the Ministry of Information, London, in October last as adviser on Indian affairs to the Far Eastern Bureau. He joined the Ministry in London in November, 1939, having been released from the post of British member of the Information Section of the League of Nations at the express request of the British Government. In London he took charge of the section which dealt with -war publicity in India. Mr. Haward was in India from 1909 to 1928, when he vacated the editorship of. The Pioneer and was appointed information officer to the India Office in Whitehall. In 1930 he accepted the position of editor of the North China Daily News and held that appointment until 1935, when for medical reasons he resigned. While in Malaya he was in close touch with Government officers, the Indian Army, the Press and the unofficial Indian community. Gloomy Atmosphere

"I was in Japan at the end of November and at the beginning of December last year," said Mr. Haward. "When I was in Tokyo, which I had visited four years earlier, the change in the situation was very noticeable, not so much the hostility of the Japanese, because that was not present, but in the great depression, restrictions on clothing and meals and the gloomy atmosphere generally. When we were in the same hotel in Tokyo in 1931 everyone was cheery, making efforts to make us comfortable and generally encouraging visits to the local spots of interest. Towards the end of last year, however, there was nothing like that, and it gave one the impression that the Japanese were 'very much under the weather.' Obviously the war in China had had a certain amount to do with this. Germans were very prominent, going about with swastika arm bands, and generally behaving as if the place belonged to them. However, it was not clear that they were at all popular. Leading Japanese admitted that the Germans had-'managed to infiltrate into Japanese offices, and that process has undoubtedly been continuing.

"The difficulty in discussing the situation with one's Japanese friends was that however much one agreed with them and they agreed with you, one came up against a particular issue on which the Japanese Army had laid down a policy, and apparently the Japanese Army could do no wrong," added Mr. Haward. "Even at this time last year it was clear that the only thing that was holding the army back was doubt whether the German claims were worth underwriting. In other words, the Japanese were waiting. It was clear, too, that the continuance of the war in China had distinctly upset the public mind, but that that mind was very well disciplined." Position in China So far as China was concerned, Mr. Haward explained that territorially the Japanese were sprawling all over the country. "Chiang Kai-shek, who has grown in stature in China, is holding out and is putting up a wonderful show in the improvisation of an economic and industrial system with which to carry on the war," he said. "Manpower is no problem to Chiang Kai-shek, and money and equipment are what he wants most. By their command of the seas the Japanese have been able to dominate the commercial nerve centres of China, but they have been quite unable to handle the Chinese people, and even in occupied areas they cannot guarantee one's safety in suburban areas outside the big towns. For instance, in Shanghai they will not guarantee one's safety 25 miles from the city, whereas before one could motor to Hangchow without trouble. The Japanese troops have been demoralised by the commanders falling into the habit of 'squeezing.' The amount of money they have been making has caused serious damage to Japanese morale. After all, being hand in glove with gangsters and owners of gambling dens is not exactly very satisfactory for an army which is attempting to assume leadership of a nation.

Shanghai Complications "In Shanghai the situation is very complicated," said Mr. Haward. "Here there is Chinese Shanghai, which is occupied by the Japanese, the French Concession, which is now under the orders of the Vichy French, and the International Settlement, which is administered by an international body consisting of Englishmen, Americans, Japanese, Germans, Swiss, Danes and Chinese. Therefore Shanghai is a place where belligerents, neutrals and non-belli-gerent neutrals meet on level terms. Whether an outbreak of war would change the position I do not know," said Mr. Haward, "but it is quite conceivable that some modus vivendi might be arranged.

"I have many Japanese friends as well as Chinese friends, but my sympathies have naturally been with the Chinese in their present struggle. I believe there is sound common sense amongst the Japanese, and I also ( think that the Japanese have real appreciation of the significance of sea power," added Mr. Haward.! "Therefore they must realise that the Germans cannot win, and that if they make IJhe mistake which they, nearly made, but did not make, in 1915 in counting on a German victory, they will plunge their country into disaster which could so easily be avoided. If the Japanese had made peace with the Chinese and stood back as neutrals in this war, instead of being drawn into the Axis, both they and China would have benefited so greatly by a consequent increase in trade that even the i China war losses would have been wiped out for both."