THE CRISIS IN JAPAN

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 19, 23 January 1937, Page 9

THE CRISIS IN JAPAN

SIGNIFICANT MOVE

WAR OFFICE VIEW

" INSULT TO ARMY"

A SENSATIONAL MANIFESTO fulled Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. (Received January 23, 10 a.m.) TOKIO, January 22. A significant move in the Cabinet crisis is a sensational manifesto from the War Office announcing that the army is unable to co-operate with the politicians because of their putting intrigues before the national welfare and blocking reform measures. This followed the "insult to the army" alleged to have been made in yesterday's debate. The Minister of War (General Teraucki) threatens to resign if the dissolution of Parliament is rejected. Naval circles are urging a compromise. Whether the Diet will actually be dissolved will depend on tomorrow's Cabinet meeting. Several Ministers are striving to conciliate in the disputes, as if the Diet is dissolved the Budget will automatically be thrown out. j PLAN OF THE ARMY A NEW INSTITUTION FORMULATING POLICIES Just as the imposing new Diet building here is being opened with pomp and ceremony a new crisis that threatens to shake the foundations of the parliamentary system has arisen, wrote W. H. Chamberlin from Tokio to the "Christian Science Monitor" recently. The chronic antagonism between the army and the political parties has been greatly aggravated as a result of the promulgation of an army plan of alleged administrative reform which, in the opinion of many civilian politicians, contains within itself the seeds of Fascism, or at least of authoritarian government, with the voters and their elected representatives pushed very much into the background. It seems that all Premier Hirota's well-known skill as a master of compromise and conciliation will be needed if he is to save his, Cabinet, allay the apprehensions of his supporters in the Diet, and at the same time afford some satisfaction to the demands of the army. . The army plan, which has been laid before Premier Hirota by War Minister Count Terauchi, with the concurrence of the Navy Minister, Admiral Nagano, calls for the formation of a new governing institution, a body for the formulation of national policies, to be headed by a Minister without portfolio. Under the army scheme this official would have very wide, although somewhat undefined, powers, and would tend to concentrate in his hands all the policy-making functions. A SMALLER BODY. At the same time the Cabinet, if the army's desires should be realised, would be drastically reduced in size. Three Ministries would disappear as a result of mergers. The Foreign Office would absorb the Overseas Ministry, which now exercises general administration of Korea, Formosa, and Southern Sakhalin. The present Ministries of Agriculture and of Commerce and Industry would be combined; a similar merger would take place as regards the Railway and Communications Ministries. The motives of this latest military interventi'on in Japanese politics are quite clear. The army naturally sees all political problems from the standpoint of national defence. Its leaders believe that a vigorous, unified policy, co-ordinating foreign affairs, foreign trade, industry, and finance, will be most easily attained through the creation of the new office of Minister without portfolio. Moreover, military spokesmen are inclined to criticise the "log-rolling" and jealousies between various Ministries as obstacles to efficient administration. Here again it is argued that a controlling body, 'headed by a Minister without portfolio, will promote prompt action and cut through the tangle of red tape and delay that sometimes prevents the realisation of projects that have been adopted in theory. There have been agitated meetings of Minseito and Seiyukai leaders: and the suggestion has been voiced that War Minister Terauchi's promise that he alone would speak for the army in political matters has been disregarded, since other officers and anonymous military groups have been publishing their views in the Press. Concern in Parliamentary circles has been further aroused because of rumours that a section of the army desires to go still further with changes which will strike at the roots of Japanese constitutionalism. Among the changes which have been mentioned are reduction of the Diet to the status of a consultative, rather than a legislative, body, withdrawal of the bureaucracy from any kind of parliamentary control, and restriction of the franchise to heads of families and to ex-soldiers—a suggestion which, if carried out, would tend to make the personnel of the Diet much more conservative. CRITICISM OF THE PLAN. The Social Mass Party, a moderate Socialist grouping which substantially increased its representation in the Diet and in the Tokio municipal council at the last elections, issued the following criticism of the army's measures, which is worded very strongly if one considers the caution that is imposed on Japanese who criticise the military authorities: To diminish the authority of tho Diet and vol) tha people of their right to supervise administration amounts to a virtual denial of parliamentary politics. Tills we absolutely reject. Tho array apparently peeks tho cooperation of the people in national defence on one hand and means to drive tho majority of the people out of the right to participate In elections on' tho other. Tills is self-contradictory. Tills Is not' reform, but an expression of the old militarist reactionary idea. Wo, who have fought for tho building up of parliamentary political life for the masses, definitely oppose such reactionary tendencies. As often happens with disputed questions in Japan, a downright showdown has thus far been averted. Premier Hirota's policy has apparently been directed towards gaining time, in the hope that the sharp edge of the controversy will become blunted. It has been suggested that the amalgamation of the Foreign and Overseas Ministries may take place and that a Minister without portfolio may be appointed, but without such formidable power as the army would like to invest in this office. With a drastic new taxation programme and this hetly disputed issue of "administrative reform" to occupy it. the next session of the Diet, which will begin soon after January 1, gives every promise of being a lively one.