JAPAN’S FUTURE ROLE AND WAR POSSIBILITIES

Grey River Argus, 10 May 1948, Page 5

JAPAN’S FUTURE ROLE AND WAR POSSIBILITIES

View of Australian Wartime Commander ADELAIDE, May 7. “Japan must be built up again as a bulwark against Russian expansion”, said General Sir Thomas Blarney today. During the recent war, General Blarney was Commander-in-Chief of the Allied land forces in the SouthWest Pacfic. Criticising the extent to 'which Australians were still _ blinded by anti-Japanese prejudice, General Blarney said that America had awakened to the realities of the situation by helping the Japanese to revive their industrial potential. “Japan must rise again, not as a world Power, but as a barrier against the spread of Communism”, he said. “■With the pressure of Communism right against Japan’s flank, this is no time to be talking of Japanese pression. Japan would be a ‘sucker’ for Communism if the Allies kept her ground down indefinitely”. General Blarney said it would be impossible to keep 90,000,000 people down without big occupation forces, and he saw no reason why Japan should not eventually be free of military occupation. “I do not think war is inevitable, or even likely, in the near future, but it is a possibility that must be guarded against”, he added. “There will be no' war unless Russia marches on a country and overwhelms it, like Hitler did”. According to a Washington message, the United States Government rejected to-day as baseless British Commonwealth fears that the creation of a Japanese Coastguard may mean the resuscitation of an embryonic Japanese Navy. Referring to reports that the British Commonwealth representative on the Allied Control Council in Tokio had protested against certain aspects of the new Japanese maritime safety law, a spokesman for the State Department said: “This law provides for the creation of a Japanese Coastguard to prevent smuggling. There is absolutely no basis for the reported fears that this would mean the establishment of an embryonic Japanese Navy, since no steps are being taken to arm the boats which will conduct tiie anti-smuggling patrol”. Japan’s Need Of Economic Aid WASHINGTON, May 2. Allied action to strengthen Japan’s economy and thereby raise living standards was advocated to-day by Dr. Edward Ackerman, of Harvard University, who has just returned from a prolonged stay in Japan, where he was special consultant attached to the Natural Resources Section of General MacArthur’s headquarters. Dr.- Ackerman suggested:— (1) The restrictions on the Japanese manufacturing industry should ue the minimum compatible with security. (2) Japan should be granted reasonable access to foreign markets tor manufactured goods. (3) Effective technical assistance should be available to Japan, both in allowing) Allied scientists and technologists to work in Japan and in permitting the training of Japanese abroad in specialities which are important to economic rehabilitation. (4) That the reparations programmes, should not apply pressure either directly or indirectly to th: nation’s food resources, forests, or meta] mining industry, and should not draw too heavily upon curreiT production which demands metals woods ,or fibres in quantity, unless allowance is made for the importation of materials. (5) That, consideration be given to the question of Japan’s access to facilities for food production, particularly as they concern the fishing industry.