TOO MUCH ASIA

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 33, 8 February 1930, Page 8

TOO MUCH ASIA

PACIFIC CONFERENCE

AUSTRALIAN VIEWPOINT

, NO-DECISION BOUTS

The Institute of Pacific Relations, an Australian writer points out, is not compelled to pass resolutions and therefore is not compello'l to equivocate. Eoi'erring to the recent conference at Kyoto, Japan, Tristan Buesst writes in the "Argus" that "Since, puro-nant to tho rules' of tho institute, no decision's were made and no resolutions passed—the members by. this means being saved many a weary, hour of literary composition, seeking innocuous formulas to which all shades of opinion might subscribe—the conference- can ' point 'to but one great achievement, the. education of those who took part in it." The same writer points ■ out that critics, perhaps with justice, have taken exception to the failuro of the conferonce to go fully into the subject of a 1 memorandum by Mr. Odagiri, director of the Yokohama Specio Bank, and member of the, Japanese delegation^ on thai use of tho boycott as an offensive political weapon. After producing evidence of the Chinese Government's complicity in. tho recent boycott in China of Japanese goods, Mr. Odagiri continued? ''The boycott was wielded with disastrous ef- \ feet jipon the trade of the United States in 1905 and Great Britain in 1925, and it has been consistently employed to compel Japan to accede to the Chinese viewpoint. Without any attempt at arbitration, or conciliation, or any othor legal method of amicably, reaching a solution to the questions raised, the Chinese have declared a secret warfare against other nations, which in tho end has tho same effect upon their trade and economic position, as if open hostilities aro carried on." A JAPANESE REPROACH. Count Soysshima, in a series of articles in the ".Diplomatic Eeview," bitterly reproached the Japanese delegates, their leader, Dr. Nitobe, in particular, for readiness to sacrifice national interests, and even to defamo thei* country, in the doubtful cause of international understanding. Ho also strongly objected to tho admittance of a Koroan group to the conference. Long ago tho formation of a separate group of the Institute in Korea was proposed,but the proposal was rejected on account of Japanese opposition.; The Japanese ditliked the separate representation of a territory which it is the! Japanese policy to regard as an integral part of Japan. None the less, a party; of Koreans made its apearance at Kyoto' and laid a petition before thai council of! the institute, suggesting tho amendment of its constitution bo as tomake "racial groups," as from Korea^ as well as "autonomous States," such, as the British Dominions' and the Philippines, eligible for membership of the institute. The petition was refused, but the Korean party was invited to stay on at Kyoto, and its participation in the work of tho institute was welcomed. In the circumstances a patriotic Japanese cannot very well bo blamedfor objecting to tho admittance through the tradesmen's entrance of visitors whose entry had been forbidden, at tha . front gate.

PREOCCUPATION WITH CHINA. "From an Australian point of view,'* continues Tristan Bucsst, "the most serious, criticism levelled at the conference was its preoccupation with events in Chinai The groat majority of thosa present at Kyoto, it may not be said, were engrossed in. Chinese atV fairs almost to the point of obsession. . Illuminating as were tho discussions of! Manchuria and on the vexed questions of' extra-territoriality and the foreign, i concessions, one could not but regret j the ■ relegation .to the background of I many other Pacific problems crying for solution. 'All eyes were turned to the , Far East, upon which we as a group could scarcely be expected to contribute* a useful collective opinion, to the neglect of the Pacific as a whole. Tha Canadians and New Zealanders, I think, were in a like situation; we resembled actors who, while not expecting to play, lead, had not exactly expected to be given merely walking-on parts. The prominence of Chinese affairs was no , doubt inevitable at a conference held in a neighbouring country at a time when events in China loom so large in. the daily news, but it may be hoped ; that at the next conference, which at | tho invitation of the Chinese will bey, held in China in 1931, tho curious permutations, of Chines© politics will notv. completely monopolise attention. "Canada has plainly made up her mind to carry her banner into the international arena. In 1927 she was elected to the Council of the League of Nations, and sinco then she has energetically set her hand to forging links of diplomatic intercourse. Canada sent a large delegation to the Kyoto Conference, and in the ranl»s of her delegates were a number of distinguished leaders of commerce, including Mr. W. M. Birks, president of the Canadian. Chamber of Commerce. The size of tha Canadian delegation and the importance of those composing it were favourably commented upon by the Japanese as-evidence of the friendly interest taken by Canada in Pacific affairs m general and Japan in particular. fne. signal honour of a personal interview, with tho Emperor of Japan was accorded to Mr. N. W. Bowell (leader of the delegation) and to another Canadian, delegate, Sir John Aird, president of tho Canadian Bank of Commerce. _ They,; were the first private citizens of Vanada to receive this unusual mark of the Imperial favour."