DUTCH NEUTRALITY

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 22, 26 January 1940, Page 7

DUTCH NEUTRALITY

"DUTY TO EUROPE"

SUPPORT BY NATION

NOT TO BE DIVERTED

REPLY TO MR. CHURCHILL

(By Telegraph—Press Association— Copy right.) (Received January 26, 11.40 a.m.) THE HAGUE, January 25.

The Foreign Minister M. van Kief : fens, during a debate in Parliament in which Mr. Churchill's broadcast was widely criticised, said: —- "The nation solidly supports the Government's neutrality policy. We will not be diverted by those attacking the Government's policy in their own interests.- The Netherlands has a duty to Europe to remain neutral, because its entry into the war would greatly complicate the situation. Whoever takes up arms against us; will be met by force." (Daventry Broadcast.) I LONDON, Thursday Night. In his speech today, the Netherlands Foreign Minister said that military precautions in Holland were necessary, for foreign forces were near the frontier, but they took these precautions on all sides. He deprecated the light-hearted way in which the possibility of attacks on neutral countries was discussed, and said it must not be assumed that nations intended to live by the law of the jungle. Discussing the League of Nations, he said that hope that the League might take, on new life was not yet excluded. There was no moral or judicial obligation on members as neutrals to take part in the. war.