ALIGNMENT POSSIBILITIES

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23002, 23 April 1940, Page 14

ALIGNMENT POSSIBILITIES

i . TO THE EDITOR OF THE PRESS. . Sir,—The probability of a major . alignment of the remaining first-class Powers in the hear future is now clarifying the situation of the. remaining <. neutral countries to let in Europe. 'Hie . limits of foreign policy are becoming more-Obvious, these being formed by ' defensive power resident in munitions, ' manpower, -geographical ■ situation, and undertakings in process of integration. - The Japanese Foreign Minister’s ' statement, in “The Press” to-day gives me the impression that von Papen has been endeavouring- to recoup his Near .. East failure in the Far , East; .- Some significance and surprise could be at- ' tached to Admiral Yongi being ap- •. pointed Prime Minister in preference - to General Hata, and significance nol • in .the symbolic sense; but if the GerI man High Command now desires tc ,-J control the mouth of the Rhine at - Rotterdam as well as that of the 'Danube, .the propitious moment tc ; divide Allied naval power will soon ‘ arrive in the form of a bait to Japan ,1 of t£e rich Dutch East ‘ Indies, as a t means to avert the Japanese internal * crisis and as an indirect method oi 1 Japan making peace with her v 400,000,000 potential Chinese customers, t* That the third largest navy in the » world may attempt to save Japan’s 1 military economy is on the cards, as 2 no doubt her naval officers have made .■* the . necessary alterations, in their - latest copies 'of ■ “Jane’s Fighting t Ships,” except perhaps their own - 40,000-tonners on the way. R Is obvious that every available stone of our tonnage and' skill from bridge to boiler-room will be required «* the Pacific, as will every Allied

aeroplane in Europe in the days to come, if the trade routes on the Seven Seas are a vital factor in Allied coordination. It is unwise to prejudge important digressions or enigmatic activities at present taking place; rather should opinion be conditioned by a realistic attitude to events below the horizon. —Yours, etc., G.B.S. April 17, 1940.