The Evening Star MONDAY, JANUARY 10, 1944. JAPANESE WOO THE EAST.

Evening Star, Issue 25069, 10 January 1944, Page 2

The Evening Star MONDAY, JANUARY 10, 1944. JAPANESE WOO THE EAST.

Ix one respect the Japanese have been wiser than the Germans in conducting their war. From an early stage they have endeavoured to ingratiate themselves with their subject populations. The " Prosperity. Sphere " was not proclaimed for them alone, in spite of the. superiority supposed to be conferred on them by their heaven-descended Emperor. In every country where they have ipenetrated " independence " has been the bait used to attract supporters to their standard, and it would be wrong to say that the lure has been always held out in -vain. The Burmese were the first to fall for it rather more than a year ago. Many of them fought for the artful invaders when the British fight in Burma was very much one against odds, and the country has the privilege to-day of being policed by Japanese troops while a Japanese Ambassador directs the appointments of Ministers and a Japanese hank supplies funds. Thailand, as a "co-prosperity" partner, was sweetened by the gift of a slice of French Indo-Ohina. and when the Thai still found grievances those of two Shan States in Northern Borneo and four native States in Northern Malaya—all easy : to give. Thailand does her own policing, releasing to that extent Japanese troops for action elsewhere, and she is forced to lean more heavily on Japan in self-defence against possible reprisals by the French, Burmese,' and British in the future. The "independence" of the Philippines was proclaimed a few weeks'ago, but not many of. the Filipinos are likely to have been deceived. Guerrilla warfare in the islands has not. been ended. A pretence has been made of ■granting "participation in political affairs " to the Javanese, where" only a weak nationalist movement existed before the war. " Advisory Councils "have been created for the Malayans, but they do not elect them themselves. India must have been most disappointing to the Japanese. A writer in the 'Christian Science Monitor' recalls how a little-known Indian, one Rash Behari Bose, who had lived in Japan for twenty-eight years, promised first to invade that country with an army of 30,000 Indians recruited in Hongkong, Singapore, and Malaya. Nothing further happened, and another Bose, ono Chandra, a former president of the AllIndia Congress said to have still some following in his home State. Bengal, took up the running. His invasion, with an "Indian National army " of 300,000, was announced for October last, to he postponed, when that date came, "possibly for a year." But Bose had proclaimed himself Prime Minister of a "Free India" Government in Singapore, which has now been transferred, we are told, to Burma. Few Indians will be concerned, and it may be expected ' that the other countries in which puppet agents have been exerting their wiles will have small faith in the benefits offered them when they learn more of the Japanese.