RESOURCES OF INDOCHINA

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 80, 28 December 1940, Page 12

RESOURCES OF INDOCHINA

Rich And Undeveloped

OTHER POWERS AFFECTED BY JAPAN’S AIMS The courage of the Chinese Government and the feebleness of the Vichy Government have brought an important Far-Eastern possession of France, Indochina, into the news. . There is no doubt at all that Japan wants this southward extension of China, with its rich and undeveloped resources and its strategic value in controlling the_ sea mute from Singapore to Hong Kong, and that she wants it for keeps. But there are three Powers who are affected as deeply by Japanese ambitions in this direction as the French colonists themselves. These three are America, concerned in the future of the Philippines, which fie across the South China Sea and midway between Indo- < bina and the Pacific Islands mandated io Japan; the Dutch East Indies, which lie to the south of the Philippines and have preserved their freedom, though their Motherland has been overrun: and the British Empire, represented by the Malay States, British Borneo, and Australia and New Zealand beyond, to say nothing of Burma, which with Siam forms Indo-China's western boundary. Prosperous Coiinhr. With an area of 286,000 square miles, three times the size of France, but with only half France’s population, I udo-China has been the only big French overseas possession which has made a trading profit and has paid for itself. This profit amounts to about £10.000,000 a year. So rich is this country that it has achieved this result in spite of the indolent nature of the Annatnese who form five-sixths of the native population and, it must be confessed, in spite of the indolence, and lack of enterprise on the part of the 40,000 Europeans who live there. Most of the hard won:, in fact, seems to be done by immigrant Chinese and •Japanese. It is the Japanese who have cut the new roads across the mountains separating the country from China, and they are confident that they could do far better than the French with the magnificent ports, such as Camranh, with a deep harbour capable of sheltering an armada, and Haiphong, the Seagate of Hanoi, the capital. From these and other ports IndoChina exports a million tons of rice a year, much sugar, maize, and tea. Anthracite coal (of which the annual production is over 2,000,000 tons), zinc ,5000 tons), tin, and wolfram are the chief minerals, and the fishing industry i> very flourishing. Famous Names. It is as ludo-China that this valuable French possession now comes into the news, but it is the more picturesque names of the component colonies that will awake most memories in older readers —Cambodia, with its ancient monuments such as the ruins of Angkor ; Annam, which won its independence from China a dozen years after Agincourt; Tonking, through which runs the Red River, fed by the Black River and the Clear River; and CochinChina, whose name is perpetuated in a famous breed of domestic fowls. It is even claimed by European visitors to this Far Eastern land that its Buddhists would prefer the pushing, vigorous Japanese to the French as overlords in the future. The French, as always, have done much for educalion and other branches of civilized existence, but they have failed to make the most of their opportunities in a country which is so situated that it could become a very imporant factor in the trade of the Far East.

'Che Japanese realize these facts and believe that the moment has come to realize a long-standing ambition of their imperialists. The question is—are they making their claims with a view to the general good of the Western Pacific, or for military glory and national pride in possession?