BRITISH POLICY IN FAR EAST

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22796, 23 August 1939, Page 7

BRITISH POLICY IN FAR EAST

ATTITUDE IN TOKYO CONDEMNED MR I. F. G. MILNER’S VIEW OF RECENT EVENTS “To me the negotiations with Britain over Tientsin are evidence of Japan’s lailure to beat China. , She hoped, through the discussions In Tokyo, to get Britain to do the job for her. The disastrous thing from our point of view in the Pacific is that through the uncertainty of British policy the chance of co-operation With the United States has been lost.” This comment on the latest stage of the War in China was made in an address last evening by Mr I. F. G. Milner, a former Rhodes Scholar, who returned recently from America.

“Most of us must have got a pretty baft shock whew we rend the terms of the Tokyo agreement between Britain and Japan concluded last month,” said Mr Milner. “Then, three or four days later the United States Government broke off the commercial and political treaty with Japan, opening the way to much stronger economic pressure after a period of six months." The result of the divisions and compromises of British policy had been that when a crisis arrived with a chance for a firm front by Britain and America, Britain was unable to make definite proposals to Washington for effective co-operation. “A Stronger Line” “We are told that Britain can’t do anything without American co-opera-tion, which is said not to be forthcoming,” he said. “The issue is confused by references to the isolationist bloc in the United States. A study of both British and American policy in China will show that the United States has taken a much stronger line in defence of the Nine-Power Treaty, in support of China, and in defence of her rights and national interests in China.”

It was surely significant that on the heels of the British concession to Japan —or the British betrayal of China, if the policy were not modified —the United States had broken off its treaty with Japan. Britain had rreferred to arrive at the Tokyo formula' which implied, as a Japanese spokesman had stated, the abandonment of support for China and possibly the engineering of a settlement of the war. There were two things of which the Japanese were chiefly afraid—the cutting off of supplies of war material by America, and coercive or defensive action - by the American Navy. British policy had been such that the potential effect of America’s dominating .position could not be brought into play, as was necessary If Japan was to be checked. An Appeal for China Mr Milner spoke to a' public meeting arranged by the Christchurch Left Book Club, which Is sponsoring an appeal by the China Defence League, with headquarters in Hong Kong, for blankets and other supplies urgently needed to alleviate the sufferings of the Chinese population. Mr Milner gave similar addresses in many parts of the United States, which he toured with Mr James Bertram, a New Zealander. well-known .as a. writer of books from personal experiences in the Chinese war soiteS. . Mr H. Wihstoa Rhodes, president the club, spoke oft banalf of the appeal. The New Zealand Left Book Clubs Were concentrating on obtaining blankets to help the Chihese through the rigours of another wint-r campaign, he said. He reminded the meeting of the vast suffering caused by the struggle for Chinese liberty, in which, he said, some New Zealanders —notably Mr ReWi Alley, once of Christchurch — were giving their lives. Nearly £2O was collected at the meeting, with promises of further gifts. L