JAPANESE GOAL

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 98, 22 October 1938, Page 10

JAPANESE GOAL

NOT ONE OF CONQUEST

ARAKI OUTLINES COURSE

COMMUNIST SPECTRE

"Japan's main objective in China is not to conquer territory, not to fight the Chinese people, but to crush Communism. A number of Powers, but especially the Soviet Union have, been helping China in this conflict. Three quarters of China today is under Russian control, with Soviet protectorates in Outer Mongolia and Sinkiang, a vast area in the North-west —including Shensi and Kansu Provinces— under the influence of Chinese Reds and Chiang Kai-shek himself under Communist influence. "THese are the facts of the situation which should command more attention abroad. What would the interests of other nations in China be worth if Communism should take the upper hand there? Japan is fighting to protect itself against the menace of a Communised China; but it is also standing for the protection and maintenance of peace in the whole world, because Communism is an intex*-; national danger." The speaker was General Baron Sadao Araki, former War Minister, and a member of the Cabinet Advisory Council, which was formed last autumn to strengthen the hands of the Cabinet in dealing with the emergency situation brought by the conflict in China, writes W. H. Chamberlin from Tokio to the "Christian Science Monitor." SINCERITY GRANTED. One might not agree, with this analysis of the causes of the undeclared Sino-Japanese War. Indeed, when General Araki himself assumed the role of interviewer and pressed me with questions as to why the Western Powers failed to realise the menace to their security represented by Communism in China I tried to explain why public opinion in America and Great Britain did not view this prospect in quite the same light as General Araki. But there could be no doubt of the sincerity of General Araki's own conception of the Communist menace, or of the strong personality of the man who has long been, the idol of the young officers of the Japanese Army. The Japanese Army, like most other organisations in Japan, has about it something of an impersonal, collectivist character. Decisions are usually the product of group discussion, not of the will of a single individual. Yet General Araki has emerged as a definite, strongly marked character, despite the limitations of a service that is, in the "main, anonymous and impersonal. His appeals to his countrymen to "ride the tiger," an Oriental equivalent for "living dangerously," to see in constant exposure to natural catastrophes—floods, fires, typhoons, earthquakes—not a cause of 'discouragement, but an inspiration to greater courage and perseverance, have made his name widely known, both in Japan and abroad. MILITARY SPOKESMAN. General Araki is generally considered as a spokesman for the Japanese military class. But there is not a suggestion in his personality of sabrerattling, of stamping with heavy military boots. Spare in figure, alert in manner, giving the impression, despite his more than three score years, of being in the best of physical condition, his traits and mannerisms are those which one would naturally associate with the artist, rather than with the soldier. His face is mobile and expressive, his tone, when a subject interests him, lively and vivacious. And he has something of the artistic temperament in dealing with an interviewer. If a question does not appeal to him he brushes it aside with scant ceremony. On the other hand, if a responsive chord is touched, he talks at length in animated, fashion. In General Araki there is much that is typically Eastern. He likes to speak in parables and allegories. He once characterised the Chinese as a people of sand, the Japanese as a people of clay. One of his criticisms of Communism is that it considers people only in the mass, "regardless of whether they are diamonds or ordinary stones," Despite the emphasis with which he denounced the Communist International as Japan's main enemy in China, General Araki was rather mild and non-committal when asked for his opinion about the chances of war between Japan and the Soviet Union. "Other countries are also helping China with munitions," he said, "so there is not reason to go to war with the Soviet Union merely on account of that/aid. If-the Soviet Union should adopt a challenging attitude on the frontiers of Manchukuo and North China, should clearly threaten. Japan with troop concentrations, then the situation would change. But there is no sign of this as yet." ATTITUDE TOWARDS RUSSIA. I asked General Araki whether the Soviet Union would be a more formidable opponent to Japan than Tsarist Russia was in 1904-05, in view of the great development of war industries since "the inauguration of the first Five-Year Plan and the development of aeroplanes and submarines, weapons which were unknown at the time of the Russo-Japanese War. "We cannot believe that we are unable to cope with the Soviet Union," he replied, with the air of assurance which is characteristic of every Japanese military officer, when purely military questions are under discussion. "A mere comparative list of figures does not show the real strength of nations at war. One must consider morale, fighting spirit, and spiritual essence of the people, and here I believe the Japanese are unsurpassed. We don't know how many Soviet aeroplanes could reach Tokio. In any event, there are always casualties in war; and I cannot conceive that air bombardment could be more disastrous than the great earthquake which we suffered in 1923. You see how we have recovered from that." Recalling the fact that the World War ended in several major revolutions, I asked General Araki whether he believed a prolonged war might be dangerous for the existing order in Japan. He refused to believe in the possibility of a "bad" revolution in Japan. "If there is to be any revolution it will be a good one," he declared. "There will be reforms, but not sanguinary destructive revolution, such as I saw myself in Russia in 1917 when I was there as a Japanese military attache. For one thing, whatever difficulties may confront us, our food supply is well assured; Japan gets what it needs to eat from its own rice fields and those of Korea and Formosa and from the seas which surround our country. So there will be no hunger to drive the people to despair. Then the Japanese people are strong in their national faith; hardships will only make them stronger, will not break them down." TYPE OF REVOLUTION. | then tried to learn from General J&M £»£ afest bis conception of a