FRENCH POLICY

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 133, 2 December 1926, Page 7

FRENCH POLICY

IN FOREIGN AFFAIRS

REVIEW BY M. BRIAND

A HINT TO ITALY.

, Jnited Press Association.—Copyright.) PARIS, 30th November. M. Briancl, iv the course of a statement on foreign policy, said that Syria and Tunis were settling down. Prance's treatment of these territories had been approved by tlio Mandates Commission. She had maintained a moderate attitude in China, trying to follow a policy conforming to Chinese interests, "but Franco must protect her own citizens. "We shall not allow French throats to bo cut," M. Briand said. There was talk of a possible massacre of foreigners in Hankow. France would defend her Concession there, if necessary, but it was hoped she would not become involved in military operations.

There had'been ill-humoured incidents in Italy. It was a pity that such ill-humour was always directed against France. Fortunately the incidents had not led to serious results, but there was a limit to things. The Consulates and Legations should be respected. Relations now were satisfactory, and Frenchmen should not pay overmuch attention to the wild claims to French territory appearing in Italian newspapers.

A' lasting European peace was impossible without a Franco-German rapprochement. "Peace," said M. Briand, "is a person difficult to please, demanding more than politeness. We must give ourselves to her entirely. The Covonant of the League of Nations is the cornerstone of the Versailles Treaty, and the policy of the Locarno Pact, merely amounts to putting the League into action. It was a groat thing that Germany voluntarily signed the paper recognising the French frontier, and renouncing the settlement of disputes by force. We are not in the Rhineland in order to bully Germany. The occupation is a pledge for a specific object."

M. Briand declared that the German assertion, that France had not made collections; was inexact. She had macio both concessions and sacrifices. Germany had not made any sacrifice. Her entry- into the League was an honour, not a sacrifice. He was convinced that the substitution of the League' 3 military control in Germany for inter-Allied control would reinforce European security. If another war broke out there would be no victors or vanquished. It would be Europe's catastrophe.