JAPAN’S PACIFIC AIMS

Grey River Argus, 16 January 1941, Page 6

JAPAN’S PACIFIC AIMS

AUSTRALIA & N.Z. Not Menaced [Aus. & N.Z. Cable Assn.] ■ TOKIO, January 14. Defining Japan's Pacific policy m an interview, Mr Matsuoka, the ap anese Foreign Minister, expressed profound hopes for peace in s Asked what he thought of the likelihood of war in the Pacific said: "New Zealand and Australia may rest assured that I shall take no action, without the most-careful consideration. We have too much trouble in the world already, without adding to it by rashness. Japans southward expansion will be a peaceful economic expansion, of benent to all . “My motto is: ‘No conquest, no oppression, no exploitation.’ We have no intention of shutting off -he supply of essentials such as rubber and jute from the rest of the world. We want general prosperity, wherein Japan has a legitimate share. When we speak of southward expansion, we use the term in a general sense. By these regions, we mean the East Indies, Thai, Burma, and Indo-China. Theie is no need for concern, in New Zealand and Australia. They can take care of their own interests. There is no more danger of war in the Pacific to-day than before, provided none of us loses our head.”

JAPAN’S MAIN ANXIETY. ATTITUDE OF U.S.A. TOKIO, January 14. The vernacular papers said that Prince Konoye himself, instead of the Foreign Minister, Mr Matsuoka. opened the Government’s "•faur-day round table discussions, with members of Parliament, representatives of the Press, and financial and economic circle’s, in order to enlist their support for tiding the nation over an unprecedented crisis. He explained the international situation to eighty-one members of the Lower House, after which he asked for their support in the Diet session, which he will reopen on January 21. Prince Konoye’s speech has not been released to the public, but the Domei Agency said he particularly touched on the impending worldwide disturbance, following the intensification of the United States bottomless anti-Japanese attitude, as well as the intensified aid to Britain and Chungking.

Jap. Military Leaders AN UNPRECEDENTED CONFERENCE. [Aus. & N.Z. Cable Assn.] (Received January 15, 7.40 p.m.) TOKIO, January 14. The paper, “Nichi-Nichi Shimbun,,’ said: The Japanese War Minister, General To,jo, has invited thirteen senior military leaders to a conference to explain the seriousness of the domestic and.the foreign situation, and to request their full support. The “Nichi-Nichi” said that that conference is significant, on account of its being unprecedented in Army annals.

Tense Feeling in Japan GOVERNMENT’S SECRET CONFERENCES. AMERICA’S ATTITUDE IN QUESTION. (Received January 15, 7.30 p.m.) LONDON January 15. “The Times’’ Tokio correspondent discusses the Japanese Premier, Prince Konoye’s review of J'apan's relations with England and America. The correspondent says: “The Japanese Government’s decision to hold private and separate conferences with influential groups reveals its anxieties. One of these anxieties has been induced by the public becoming conscious of the fact that relations with the United States have drifted into a dangerous position. When an influential journal, “Oriental Economist,” declares that Mr. Matsuoka’s AngloAmerican policy is a failure, it is evident that uneasiness cannot be ignored. These conferences are aimed at preventnig any uneasiness bursting out in the Diet.

AGAINST SPIES. JAPANESE TRAINING. (Received January 15 7.30 p.m.) TOKIO, January 15. Japan’s first anti-espionage manoeuvres have started in western Japan. They will cover a' period of three days. They are centred in the Osake and Kobe industrial districts. Tokio Broadcasts STOPPAGE OF ENGLISH REPORTED. (Received J'anuary 15, 7.40 p.m.) LONDON, January 15. The Tokio correspondent of “The Times" says:—“The Tokio Radio has discontinued all English broadcasts. ENGLISH NAMES. TO BE CHANGED AT RESTAURANTS’. (Received January 15. 7.40 p.m.) LONDON, January 15. The “Times” Tokio correspondent says: Restaurants, bars and cafes throughout Japan bearing English names, are to have them changed short ly. U.S.A. CHALLENGE TO AXIS TOKIO, January 14. The newspaper “Yomiuri,” commenting on the Bill, said: "Roosevelt’s Bill is tantamount to an open challenge to the Axis.” The newspaper urged the Axis to take _ all precautionary measures against eventualities. Japan and Germany CLOSER CO-OPERATION (Received January 16, 1.30 a.m. 1 TOKJO, January 15. The Foreign Minister, Mr Mat-

suoka, in a speech at the send-off to Ambassador Hiroshi Oshima, who is shortly going to Berlin, stressed that he had the expectation of a furthei strengthening of German-Japanese relations. He said: “Since the prac tical application of the Three-Power Alliance has still yet to be made in the future, we expect much of Ambassador Oshima’s competent active ties when we consider the future _oi the two nations in Europe and Asia. Ambassador Oshima’s responsibility is by no means light.” He .said, in conclusion, that the Three-Power Alliance was not an accidental. one. It existed on account of the signatories being spiritually bound by a common ideal for the construction of a new world.

American Clippers LINE TO AUSTRALIA NEXT [Aus. & N.Z. Cable Assn.] SAN FRANCISCO, January 14. Captain P. G. Taylor, who i s on a secret mission to the United States, predicted that Australia and America would soon be linked by two airlines, one of which would be Australian. H° said: “Australia believes that aviation must be developed on an international basis, and that landing facilities be granted by one country to the lines of others. Australia will certainly welcome the completion of an American line of clippers to her shores. I hope we receive the same welcome for the Australian line. “The necessity for two lines between Australia and the United States is rendered doubly apparent by the developments at present m thp Pacific. We feel it is ever more important to link Australia and the United State s in a manner, io enable both to make the Pacific region what we feel it should be. We don’t want the Pacific to become another Europe.”