DELAYING ACTION

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20649, 27 December 1941, Page 5

DELAYING ACTION

ROLE OF HONG KONG VALUABLE PART PLAYED (Reed. Dec. 27, 9 a.m.) OTTAWA, Dec. 26. The Prime Minister, Mr. W. L. Mackenzie King, before leaving for Washington, issued the following statement regarding Hong Kong:— “From the outset, Hong Kong’s fate hung in the balance. Hong Kong’s security depended largely upon the maintenance of naval strength in the Pacific, which was temporarily completely changed by the losses following the treacherous Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour and the Philippines and by the loss of the Prince of Wales and the Repulse. “After their losses, the defence of Hong Kong was transformed into a delaying action. How valiantly Hong Kong was defended was apparent from the fact that the capture occupied a formidable Japanese force for a fortnight. Hong Kong’s resistance spared the defenders of the Philippines and Malaya even stronger assaults at a moment when to gain time was the all-important factor Therefore, the defence of Hong Kong may prove to have had far-reaching consequences for the whole Far Eastern campaign. “One should also remember that defence against aggression in any part of the world is to-day the defence of every country still enjoying freedom. It may well be that the gallant Canadian, Australian, British. Indian, American, and Dutch defenders of Hong Kong and other outposts of freedom in the South China Sea and the East Indies will be remembered as the world’s vanguard of freedom.”