JAPANESE DESIRE IN THAILAND

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 110, 3 February 1941, Page 7

JAPANESE DESIRE IN THAILAND

May Demand Bases To Aid Southward Policy RESULTS OF MEDIATION (By Telegraph.—Press Assn. —Copyright.) LONDON, February 1. Following the announcement of the signing of an armistice agreement between Thailand and French Indo-China, a message from Saigon savs it is anticipated that Japan as a reward for her. mediation in the affair will demand naval bases in southern Indo-China and southern Thailand for the purpose of facilitating possible moves against Singapore or the Netherlands East Indies. Meanwhile, the message adds, it is reliably stated that Japan will soon send a fleet of 15 battleships, cruisers and auxiliaries to control permanently the Gulf of Siam. The Saigon correspondent of the American Associated Press says the Thailand "armistice provides that both armies withdraw 10 kilometres behind the positions they occupied on January. 28. The line follows the border except at several points where Thailand forces penetrated Cambodia (south-west Indo-China) and one point in Laos. The two navies arc forbidden to cross a line extending from the border into the Gulf of Siam, and aircraft have been ordered to be held at least 20 kilometres behind the lines. The Japanese have been authorized to supervise the execution ot the agreement, which was signed yesterday morning aboard a Japanese warship at Saigon. A peace conference between the two countries is to be held in Tokio.

SINGAPORE, January 31. A Thai Consulate communique claims that the territories which formed the subject of the original Thai demands have been completely occupied by the Thai forces and have been incorporated in Thailand. The Singapore “Free Press” claims that behind the Japanese mediation in the Franco-Thailand conflict lies a story of Axis plotting which eventually, perhaps very soon, may lead to an extension of tiie war in the Far East. Japan, it is stated, is determined to master Indo-China and Thailand as a result of which Malaya “is in real danger of finding herself engaged in war in the next few months.” Developments, both actual and potential, constitute an attempt to outflank Singapore in order to attack from the rear.