AMERICAN POLICY IN JAPAN: AUSTRALIAN VIEWS

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 August 1947, Page 7

AMERICAN POLICY IN JAPAN: AUSTRALIAN VIEWS

LONDON, August 11

The tendency of the British press to play down or ignore news from Japan is understandable, but it is to be regretted,” says the Spectator. It says that little publicity was given, for example to the considered statements of the Australian Minister of External Affairs (Dr H. V. Evatt) during his current tour in Japan. The Spectator adds: “Although Dr Evatt has been far too discreet to criticise the present administration in Japan, his speeches contained several hints that Australia is not as prepared as the Americans to be well satisfied at Japan’s sudden, if not rather theatrical, conversion to democracy. “Dr Evatt’s statements emphasise that Australia expects and ■will try to exact, as great a say as the United States and the United Kingdom in the forthcoming conference on the Japanese peace treaty.

“While discounting rumours that the Americans would secretly like to see a strong Japan as a bulwark against Russia in the Pacific, it is safe to assume that American and Australian views on Japan’s future policy wll be sharply divergent. Australia’s attitude to the American policy in Japan is, in fact, conditioned by much the same fear and anxieties as France’s attitude to the American policy in Germany.”