WAR IN PACIFIC

Grey River Argus, 7 October 1941, Page 5

WAR IN PACIFIC

U.S. JOURNALIST’S VIEW. SYDNEY, Sept. 17. Notwithstanding present discussions between the United States and Japan. an experienced American journalist, Mr. Hallet Abend, who is passing through Australia, believes that war must eventually' come to the Pacific. Mr. Abend speaks from his experiences of the : Far East, where he spent 15 years as a correspondent in China. He is on his way to the Netherlands East Indies and Manila (Philippines) to gather material for a series of articles for the Readers Digest. When he returns from that trip, he will collect information on the war effort in Australia and New Zealand. “I do not see any reason for anybody feeling hopeful about the outcome of the United States-Japanese talks,” Mr. Abend said. “The position of the two nations seems to be so hopelessly in opposition politically and economically that they can hardly find a’ basis for agreement Surely we are not going to do a Munich in China. And J'apan will never asree to remove her armies from China. She couldn’t. She would have mutiny and rebellion.” Mr. Abend, however, does not think that Japan can reckon on a permanent victory in China. “Japan is vulnerable at sea',” he said. “If hostilities break out in the Pacific her supply lines could be cut and her soldiers in China would be left without munitions and equipment, and would be forced out. If war has to come, it is better to get it over. War with Japan now would quicken the end of the conflict in Europe. Tension in the Pacific has immoblised vast forces. Imagine what a’ difference 3000 planes and 300,000 men would have made in Greece if they had not been immobilised in the Singapore and Indies areas.” If Japan went to war in the Pacific, Mr. Abend added, the Indies and the Philippines would be attacked first. It would be stategic folly for J'apan to hit Australia first, but no doubt Australia would be subjected to air raids and bombings from aircraft carriers. In America the German invasion of Russia had had a slackening effect on morale. Mr. Abend said. Whereas before the invasion the urgency for support to Britain was fully recognised, the Russian success had now caused a loosening to tension. The Isolationists however, were gradually receding into the background, where .they belonged.