IN BALANCE

Evening Star, Issue 24056, 1 December 1941, Page 7

IN BALANCE

PEACE OF PACIFIC SITUATION MORE TENSE AMERICA’S PATIENCE WEARING THIN Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, Nov. 30The Japanese reply to Mr Cordell Hull expressed dissatisfaction with important points. Optimism regarding the Washington talks is declining sharply,’ the Tokio correspondent of the British United Press authoritatively reports. In a statement on the anniversary of the Japau-Manchukno declaration of the “ new order in East Asia,” the 'Prime Minister (General Tojo) asserted that British and American exploitation of Asiatic peoples must bo “ purged with a vengeance.” He said Marshal Chiang Kai-shek was dancing to the tune of British and American Communism because Great Britain and the United States desired to throw tho Asiatic people against each other. “ This is the stock-in-trade of Great Britain and tho United States,” he said, “ and therefore we must purge this sort of action with a vengeance.” It is authoritatively stated in _ New York that tho patience of the United States Government with Japan is nearing exhaustion, and that another Japanese military move, whether in Thailand or elsewhere in the south, would be regarded as a Japanese attempt to dominate the whole of tho Pacific area. The United States Government will not tolerate this, says the Washington correspondent of the New York ‘ Times.’ While negotiations have not collapsed, the United States Government is deeply concerned over tho possibility of tho Philippines being encircled by Japan, and rubber, tin, and other essential defence supplies being cut off by further Japanese aggression. The Manila correspondent of the Associated Press of _ America says authoritative sources in Nanking disclosed that Nazi agents are making determined efforts to bring about a negotiated peace between Japan .nd China. At the same time an authorised Chinese source declared that any lessening of United .States aid to China might force Chungking to accept peace terms.

French Tndq-Chiua’s role in the event of war in the Pacific will he directed solely from Vichy, declared Vice-Admiral Decoux, Governor of Indo-China, in an interview with_ the Hanoi correspondent of the Associated Press of America. Asked whether areas or bases would be placed at Japan’s disposal in the event of war, Vice-Admiral Dccoux said that IndoChina was part of the French Empire, and therefore must conform strictly to instructions from the French Government.