JAPAN AND SIAM

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 80, 5 April 1938, Page 19

JAPAN AND SIAM

: ♦ ; FRENCH UNEASINESS

POSITION IN INDO-CHINA

.. France's attitude towards the SinoJapanese conflict is generally held to be dominated by .the exposed position ;of French/Jndo-China, writes the Paris ■correspondent' ;of „;the "Manchester Guardian." But; it'is not so widely known ..that .France's, extreme caution in-dealing with the Far Eastern crisis involves a very delicate situation existing..between, this French colony and Siam.

A short .time ago the Siamese Government denounced the Franco-Siamese •Treaty of 1925; which for more than a decade kept relations oetween the two neighbours harmonious and peaceful. Now no treaty^ basis, any longer exists for settling frontier disputes and other problems. ' . •'■' ' ■',;'. '

• Since the beginning of the Sino- . Japanese. War, -these -problems have taken on an increasingly grave aspect. The French Colonial Union recently raised ,'a cry pf alarm, declaring that the security ;ahd existence of • French Indo-China are' endangered by the present situation.. .'..

Siam.is ah independent kingdom lying east* and south of the group of colonies'which constitute French IndoChina:; Tonkin, Annam, Laos, CochinChina, :.an^Cambodia./There are more than ■j'2'OO'jhiles of common frontier between^ the'two territories. When relations between Siam and Indo-China are not good, this long frpntier has to be carefully policed and protected.

: Lately'there, has been a resurgence of nationalism in Siam, which has been fostered by- Japanese propaganda. Japan- and ■". Siam have long been friendly, and lately", there is evidence of increased .Japa'riese penetration which has resulted in stirring ..up anti-French sentiments in Siam.

LIBERTY OF ACTION.

This hostility came to a.head when Siam denounced the 1925 FrancoSiamese Treaty.- As a resujt of this denunciation Siam recovered at the end of 1937 its "complete;;- liberty of action" along the Siam-Indo-China. frontier. • . ;

In particular, Siam now has the right to remilitarise a long stretch of frontier along the Mekong River which had been set aside as a demilitarised zone 25 kilometres in width.

The authorities in Paris ; : are apprehensive about this because, they claim

to have information to the effect that Japan has been, slowly "filtering" soldiers a few at a time ..into this frontier territory in accord with the Siamese Government. A further cause of French uneasiness is the fact that some time ago. the Siamese Government.published a map made by the geographical services of the Siamese Army depicting "Siam's former frontiers." This map shows a greatly enlarged Siam, including a big slice of Burma on the west, a large part of Laos on the northeast, and all of Cambodia on the southeast. This map has been distributed in large numbers.. throughout Siamese schools. '.'...

. Also, according to figures given .to the ''Monitor" by a French military expert on the Far East, France has only 25,000 troops—mostly native—in IndoChina, while Siam has an army of over 60,000 trained soldiers equipped with modern arms, in addition to 300,000 reserves.

Naturally the French Government is not concerned by any prospect of Siam's acting alone. But French military circles are pessimistic, as to the possibility of successfully defending French Indo-China against a Siamese attack on land seconded by Japanese naval action. It is for this reason that the French Government has from the first endeavoured.to avoid antagonising Japan, even going so far as to close the railway from Hanoi to Yunnan in South China when Japan protested that war supplies.were being sent to General Chiang Kai-shek over this road.

SHIPMENTS CONTINUED

Incidentally, the "Monitor." is able to reveal authoritatively, the closing of the road did not at all stop French shipments of arms and other war supplies to China via Hanoi. These arms shipments are continuing,, but instead of going north-west by rail, they are being sent north-east by road into Kwangsi. . ■

The French believe that Japanese support has been offered to Siam in return for permission to construct a canal through the Isthmus of Kra, This would result in linking the gulf Of Siam with the Indian Ocean* thus avoiding the passage around the Malayan Peninsula and through the Straits, guarded ■ by,the strong British naval base at Singapore.

AH the^e . agpeets of . the IndoChinese problem are being, closely studied by the -Qual d'Orsay, but they. are practically unknown to, the general public in France. French diplomacy is endeavouring, to lay the groundwork for-the negotiation of a new treaty.with Sigrn. So far, however,, little or np.progress has been' made. It is generally admitted that France's future relations with Siam depend on its relations with Japan, That is one reason why the French Government continues carefully to watch the evolution of .event? in the Far East.