JAPAN’S PLANS

Grey River Argus, 3 December 1938, Page 7

JAPAN’S PLANS

FOR CHINA Supplier of Raw Material [Aust. & N.Z. Cable Assn.l ' TOKIO, December 1. “The Japanese'plan for a new order in the Far East means mutual aid, politically, economically and culturally the abandonment of maxims, hitherto regarded as sacosanct, and the relation of China’ and Manchukuo hereanent,” commented General Arita, on taking over the Foreign Ministry. , . He did not repeat the assurances to the Ambassadors that Japan would adhere to the open door. Recent' authoritative utterances suggest that China’s role will be as agriculturist, supplying raw materials .Manchukuo’s heavy industries, coal and iron, and Japan’S as general mentor and military protector. The trade returns for January to October reveal that Japanese exports to New Zealand and Australia totalled eighty million yen, a decline compared with 1937 of five per cent., which is the smallest, the next lowest decline being 30 per cent, to Europe and the greatest 54 per cent, to the Dutch Indies. , LONDON, December 1.

“The Times”' Hong Kong correspondent says: Refugees report a Japanese retirement from the Hong Kong border, for which reason they hesitate to return to their homes. Japanese face opposition in South Shansi, which threatens to hold up the drive towards Sian. Traffic on the Tunghai railway which has been the Japanese objective for months past, is not yet stopped. A quarter of a million Chinese oppose the Japanese advance in North Honan. WELLINGTON, December 2.

A decision to send another £lOOO to China for the relief of refugees was made by the joint council of the Order of St. John and the New Zealand Red Cross Society Far East Relief Com- 1 mitt.ee in Wellington yesterday. The decision was made in respohse to a cablegram from Hong Kong stating that the Ssuth China refugee problem was assuming alarmingly distressing proportions and that there were hundreds of thousands of people homeless and starving.