JAPAN’S PLACE IN AXIS

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 139, 8 March 1941, Page 11

JAPAN’S PLACE IN AXIS

Unequal Obligation MR. MATSUOKA’S PLANS May Visit Berlin Soon

(By Telegraph.—Press Assn. —Copyright.)

(Received March 7, 11 p.m.)

NEW YORK, March 6.

Rumours that the Japanese Foreign Minister. Mr. Matsuoka, will shortly visit Berlin, with a stop at Moscow en route, though still officially unconfirmed, have acquired greater solidity from the imminent conclusion of Japan’s mediation between Indo-China and Thailand and the departure of Major-General Ott, German Ambassador to Tokio, says the Tokio correspondent of the “New York Times.” It is suggested that the Japanese people have become conscious that the Japanese-German alliance, as it stands, is one-sided. It places Japan under tin obligation to come to Germany’s assistance if Germany is attacked, but Germany has not undertaken a corresponding obligation to Japan. This arrangement was criticized in the House. Mr. Matsuoka replied: “Treaties are not everything. The situation must be constantly watched, and situations met as they arise.’’ It is suggested in some quarters that Mr. Matsuoka wishes to have this one-sided condition rectified, in which case the Germans also, it, is assumed, might want to have Japan’s obligations tightened up. While the 300 members of the staff of the Nazi Consulate in Tokio are exerting full pressure on Japan to start trouble in the Pacific, there is obviously a difference between German and Japanese opinions regarding the ultimate fate of the Dutch East Indies if Hitler wins the war, states a message from Batavia. This is revealed in articles appearing in Nazi-controlled Dutch newspapers which have reached the East Indies stating that the islands must remain under Holland’s control.

Apparently the Nazi officials sense rich plunder in the East Indies and are planning the gradual Nazification of Holland, granting her German-con-trolled independence which would result in a steady flow of riches from the East Indies to the Reich.