MOSCOW TALKS

Evening Star, Issue 25672, 21 December 1945, Page 5

MOSCOW TALKS

NEWS “ BLACK-OUT " CONTINUES RUSSIAN PRESS GIVES POINTER , MpSCOW, December 20. Reticence is still, being observed with regard to the Foreign Ministers’ talks, but Moscow newspapers are giving prominence to news from the Far East, which may be a pointer to tho matters under discussion, says ‘ The Times ’ correspondent. A long Tass Agency despatch describes the mounting dissatisfaction of Japanese left-wing parties . with Japanese political elements seeking to shield the Emperor. It describes the .1 apanese financial and labour situation as chaotic.

* Pravda ’ deals bluntly with the presence of large American forces in China, “ which seems inconsistent with respect for Chinese sovereign rights and the principle of non-intervention.” The paper also criticises President Truman’s explanation of American policy in China, saying that the task of disarming the Japanese does not require the presence of American tanks, aeroplanes, and warships, nor was American intervention needed in an area of China where local Chinese forces proved themselves capable of dealing alone with the task of disarming the defeated enemy. The paper draws the significant conclusion that the presence of a foreign army in North China justifies the Soviet Union in maintaining troops in Manchuria for a certain period, especially as Manchuria was for bo long in Japanese occupation and lies on tho Soviet borders.