JAPANESE AGGRESSION

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 July 1941, Page 5

JAPANESE AGGRESSION

SOUTHERN DRIVE IMMINENT “COMPLETE WAR FOOTING’’ WASHINGTON, July 15. Swift developments pointing to an imminent Japanese movement southward which .took place in tne Far East to-day'are causing appiehension in the United States. According to the Japanese Domei News Agency, Japan’s national structure is being geared to total war “in execution of important national policies recently decided at an imperial conference.' Large-scale preparations lor that purpose are now apparent from the intensified drive happening in all Government quarters. The Japanese Government has announced that it exnects the Japanese people to put their daily lives on a complete war footing, says the Tokio correspondent of the “New York Times.” Additional emergency measures affecting industry, agriculture, transportation, and consumption will be announced shortly. The correspondent adds that new restrictions on communications, indicate the extent of Japr.l’s preparations. Communication oy telegraph and telephone internally has been restricted to the Japanese langauge and in radio-telephone and • radiotelegraph services to Europa to Japanese and Germans. English may be used only on oversea cable services. ARMY JOURNAL’S CRITICISM (Rec. 11.55 a.m.) TOKIO, July 15. Criticising the Government’s failure to disclose the foreign policy decided by the Imperial Conference on July 2, “Kokumin” says: The public is kept in darkness at a time when tne nation is passing through a crisis. The Government should clarify its policy. It is feared that it may even retract the Greater East Asia co-prosperity scheme, before an Anglo-American offensive. —U.P.A. RELATIONS"wTtH RUSSIA.

TOKIO, July 15. Mr. lichi Kishi, acting as substitute for the Japanese Information Board spokesman, replying to a question, said that the .Russo-Japanese NonAggression Pact still stood. But, he added: “I am unable to comment on ;he future.” t _ He added that the Japanese Embassy at Moscow has been advised by the Soviet of the establishment of mine fields in many zones on Russia’s Pacific coast. This, he presumed, was on the grounds of the possi - bility of German warcraft. However, the Japanese were unable to imagine any German warcraft >n these waters. In any case these mine measures were not very pleasant to Japan. , , The Japanese Government spokesman has denied the reports that Kobe has been closed to foreigners. He said the portjs open as usual. CHINA’S ACHIEVEMENTS. (Rec. 11.10 a.m.) k CHUNGKING, July 15. Reviewing the four years of war, General Ho Yingchin said that China began with 1,700,000 troops. She now had 5,000,000 regulars, 800,000 guerillas, and 10,000,000 reserves. All the units now had modern arms. Japan used twenty divisions in China in 1937, thirty and a-half in 1938/9, thirty-five in 1940, and thirtysix and a-half in 1941. Despite the increasing forces, the Japanese gains had diminished progressively as China had become stronger. . There had been nine major battles, of which China lost three, Nanchang, Ichang, and the Chuntiao Mountains. —U.P.A. CHINA AND AUSTRALIA. SYDNEY, July 15. The appointment of China’s first Minister in Australia was announced to-night, namely Doctor Hsu-mo, who is at present Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Chinese Government. He was born in 1892 at Soochow. He has had both a legal and diplomatic career while attached to the Chinese Legation in Washington n 1922. He studied law and political science. Later he became Professor in those subjects at Nanking University in Tientsin, and at the nge of 34 vears Mr. Hsu was appointed a Judge of the Shanghai Provisional Court, and also President of the District Court of Kiangsu. DEMANDS ON FRENCH. (Rec. 11.55 a.m.) TOKIO, July 15. The Jananese navai authorities at Shanghai have disclosed that they issued an ultimatum to the French in Hankow, demanding that they should accent full responsibility for the gunfight in the French Concession. They asked for an indemnity for the family of the victim, an unreserved apology, and a promise of non-recurrence. So far, the French have not replied, thus aggravating the strained relations.—U.P.A. BURMA DEFENCES. LONDON, July 15. Sir Reginald Dorman-Smith, Governor of Burma, in an address at the end of four-day defence exercises, said he was very heartened by what he had seen. ANZAC CLUB. (Rec. 11.10 a.m.) SINGAPORE, July 15. A new Anzac Club, providing all amenities for the comfort of Australian and New Zealand troops in Malaya, was opened by the Governor, Sir Shenton Thomas. The building was donated by a builder, who asked the authorities to accept it as an Englishman’s tribute to the Colonial troops. ' , . X 1 _ Speaking at the opening, the Governor said he wished to thank the men of Australia and New Zealand for the way in which they had fitted in with the life in Malaya. They had profoundly influenced the outlook of the country to the war. Wherever* the’-' had gone, they had made friends, and when the time came tor them to move on, Malaya would miss them.—U.P.A.