MANY DIFFICULTIES FACE MAKERS OF JAP. PEACE TREATY

Evening Star, Issue 26154, 16 July 1947, Page 5

MANY DIFFICULTIES FACE MAKERS OF JAP. PEACE TREATY

(N-Z.P.A-. Special Correspondent,) LONDON,. July 14, The opinion, that the making of a peace treaty with Japan and the establishment of an agreed, level of industry in that gauntry may ultimately cause just as many difficulties as the final (settlement with Germany "i« expressed by the ‘ Economist' in an article on treaty negotiations,' The journal points out that large unexhausted'stocks of materials found in Japan at the end of the. war were allowed to disguise the true condition of Japanese economy. When these stocks were exhausted, and Japan had no means to replenish them, the extreme poverty of the country’s own natural resources was starkly revealed. . In thpse days even eminent public personages talked about the •“ pastoralisation ’ ’ of -Qormany and J apab, but a ehange of mind was bound to come, it has now become apparent that if Japan is not to continue as a burden upon' the American and British taxpayer its economy, instead of being demolished, roust be rebuilt, This is not going to be an easy matter, says the. ’ Economist, ’ for if Japan has escaped the economic disintegration, of Germany its economic plight is quite as seriou?, and its position, as an object of rivalry between Russia;and the,United States is very imiilar, From tha British .point of view, the Japanese situation can give rise to even greater anxiety for, whereas in. Germany > British and American co-operation has been obtained to a high degree, in the Pacific’ friction between: the United States and: Australia renders it much more difficult to reach an understanding between London and Washington. There is an attraction for many Americans in the idea of a disarmed Japan rescued from feudalism and converted to democracy by General MacArthur, but fhe trouble is that some other nations, for various reasons, find less pleasure in the picture. Bussia does not relish the thought of Japan as a permanent American satellite, nor do the countries which suffered most from Japanese pre-war trade expansion like the idea of its renewal as a subsidiary cbficern of the United Seatts.