SITUATION IN JAPAN

Greymouth Evening Star, 2 November 1939, Page 8

SITUATION IN JAPAN

EFFECT OF GERMAN-SOVIET PACT

A London business man, Mr. George Sale, who had just returned from Tokio by air, gave a representative of the “Daily Telegraph” on-August 30 a picture of the present situation in Japan, based on an intimate knowledge of the country’s history and of its prominent personalities. •He stated that the repercussions of the German-Soviet Pact would be so profound that there were good grounds for the belief that an early settlement of the war in China might be achieved. . The Japanese peace terms Were very broadly expressed, and they provided for no indemnity and no territorial aggrandisement. Economic privileges in North China and certain garrisons were provided for, hut the Japanese were committed to no hard-and-fast terms which considerations of prestige would forbid them relinquishing. If Britain and the United • States acting purely in an introductory capacity, began the diplomatic processes of settling the war in China there would be every prospect of success. But effort must be constant, not intermittent.

Trade figures showed the growing importance to the British Empire of Japanese markets. While British Empire exports to China declined from £44,000,000 to £12,000,000 between 1906 and 1936, Empire exports to Japan increased from £17,000,000 to £49,000,000. The rights and wrongs of the China war were doubtless controversial, but in dealing with the Japanese it was important to remember that while they did not expect you to agree with them, they did expect that a genuine attempt should be made to understand their point of view. They were the most sentimental people in the world, and their actions were governed more by considerations of sentiment than by anything else. They had never fully recovered from the blow of the breaking-off of the Anglo-Japanese alliance in 1922. The feeilng that that alliance had been retained only as long as it was useful to Britain had coloured Japanese relations with us ever since.

In May and June the situation was black. The moderate party was for a time swept along in the stream, and by July a clash seemed inevitable.

The German-Soviet Pact had averted that danger, and a really united Japan would never forget what, was regarded as an act of treachery. “I often asked prominent Japanese people why they were so friendly wjth Germans, when it was well known that Germany was supplying arms to China,” concluded Mr. Sale. “They replied that the Germans expressed sympathy with them —and the export of arms was merely a matter of business. They are mote concerned with sympathy than anything else."