"MISUNDERSTOOD"

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 133, 2 December 1941, Page 7

"MISUNDERSTOOD"

STATEMENT BY TOJO

PURGE IN THE FAR EAST

(Rec. 10 a.m.)

WASHINGTON, December 1

The special Japanese envoy, Mr. Saburo Kurusu, and the Japanese Ambassador, Admiral Nomura, called on Mr. Cordell Hull this morning.

In a statement to the Press Mr. Kurusu said that he did not bring a final answer to Mr. Hull's document. When asked about General Tojo's reported utterance "East Asia must be purged of British and American interference,' Mr. Kurusu said he thought that General Tojo had been badly misquoted in the news dispatches.

"We are asking for the full text of the speech." Mr. Kurusu added.

When asked whether it would be safe to say the negotiations were being resumed today Mr. Kurusu quickly retorted: "They never have been broken off." He added that "continued" would be a better word. COMPLAINT IN TOKIO. A Tokio message by the Associated Press reports that the Domei news agency quoted a statement by members of the Foreign Office that General Tojo's belligerent speech had been misinterpreted. The officials pointed out that General Tojo meant a purge of Anglo-American exploitation in the Far East rather than of the Powers I themselves. j The Prime Minister, General Eiki I Tojo. referring to the Washington negotiations, said it was regrettable that the United States was showing a tendency to refuse to understand the actualities of the situation in East Asia |

but was applying fantastic principles inconsistent with present world conditions, and thereby tending to hamper the establishment of the new order in East Asia.

The Domei news agency reports that the Japanese Cabinet held an extraordinary session, lasting an hour and a quarter, at the Premier's residence. It is understood that General Tojo detailed the latest developments.