The Gisborne Herald. IN WHICH IS INCORPORATED "THE TIMES" GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1949. OCCUPATION FORCES IN JAPAN

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22872, 16 February 1949, Page 6

The Gisborne Herald. IN WHICH IS INCORPORATED "THE TIMES" GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1949. OCCUPATION FORCES IN JAPAN

rgHIE latest reports ‘on Japan indicate that the United States authorities have no intention of either abandoning the country in time of war or carrying out the early withdrawal of the occupation forces. The United States Army Department itself has made a statement to this effect, and one of today’s messages says no inkling of such a change in policy has come to the ears of the Australian Prime Minister, Mr. Chifley, In an official statement, Mr. Chifley has referred once again to' the importance of concluding the Japanese peace treaty. It will be generally conceded that the occupation troops must be kept in garrison until finality lias been reached in a peace settlement which will help to stabilise the economy of the country and give the masses of the people something worth striving for in unity. Another factor that renders it, unwise to withdraw the American units is based on the fact that, in spite of the satisfaction expressed by General MacArthur over the general election results, the drift of political opinion has been away from the middle-of-the-road groups towards the extreme of the Right and the extreme of the Left. The Communists, who had only four seats in the old Diet, have increased their strength to 35. Compared with the DemocraticLiberal strength of 263 out of 466 seats in the House of Representatives, the Communist representation is small, but it was achieved after a campaign in which it suffered handicaps greater than those of any other party. The increased Parliamentary strength of the Japanese Communists and the resounding success of the Democratic-Liberals led by the former Prime Minister, Mr. Yoshida, illustrate the movement of opinion towards extremes as noticeable in the post-war politics of several European countries. In light of this, it is important tha the conservatism which General MacArthur once applauded as a stabilising and protective force in present-day Japan should not turn out to have been a cover for reactionaries and militarists. The world would gain little in the long run if the necessity of having a “strong Japan,” in view of developments in China, led to a resurgence of the cult of power in that highly-industrialised and enterprising country or encouraged a policy of social and political reaction which itself would force a mass of ordinary Japanese into the Communist camp. Altogether, it should be realised that in Japan there .are influences at work which, if allowed free play, would certainly lead eventually to a revival of aggressive ambition. The country is not yet, ready to develop along the lines of a peaceloving democracy, and it is only right that an alert supervisory eye should continue to be kept over it.