INDISCREET SPEECH

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 20, 25 January 1938, Page 9

INDISCREET SPEECH

JAPANESE MINISTER

REFERENCE IN DIET

"MORE CAUTION IN FUTURE"

(Received January 25, 11.40 a.m.)

TOKIO, January 24.

The House of Peers, whose members are described as well-behaved and seldom cheer,, applauded when Baron Kozada, referring to Admiral Suetsugu's recent interview, quoted in the Paris Press, suggested that only the Premier or the Foreign Minister should comment on diplomatic affairs.

The Prime Minister, Prince Konoye, gave a pledge that a more cautious at' titude would be adopted in future.

Admiral Suetsugu expressed regret that the interview had been misunderstood owing to a mistranslation, and said that China would be reduced to ashes, if she maintained her resistance, which would be a misfortune for the outside world, especially England and Japan. Therefore, he was of opinion that it would be impossible for a wise Britain to assist China, thereby adding to their misfortunes.

"The white yoke in Asia must go" was among sensational statements attributed to Admiral Nobunasa Suetsugu, Japanese Minister for the Interior, quoted in the Paris Press from the influential political review, "Kaizo," published in Tokio. Admiral Suetsugu was also alleged to have said that the mercantile interests of the whites must vanish and that British aid to China must be stopped, even at the cost of war. "I refuse to believe that the Americans will fight us if we attack Britain," he said. "The rapid realisation of liberation will naturally bring a general conflagration, but whatever precautions we take the result will be the same—a general conflagration. Thus fate wills it."