JAPAN’S AIM.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 27 September 1924, Page 12

JAPAN’S AIM.

“MONROE DOCTRINE FOR ASIA ”

Japan must evacuate .Saghalien or ak T - word to th e Alfies (wrote the Japanese correspondent of the areY” and P «J St f CoUple of months slie does not desire to do this Vl ra2 lt a ' qmd fJ r ° 9 UO .' which,-, in n s case, means oil concessions. Not that Japan is m such «ore need of on, as some would suggest, for she P le nty °f oil nearer home, but she desires to eliminate the possibility P„^ ncess f there• to Western ioweis, and .so maintain her policy■ of a Monroe doctrine for '.Eastern* Asia. Negotiations have been under weio-h i n'l this- matter for nearly iwo years, jhist m Tokio and now in Peking. The | Soviet feels that- to concede any tangible interests in Russian territory to Japan would he tantamount to givmg her a lien on such territory, which would ultimately mean possession, as is practically the case in China, Japan already possesses the southern half of the island; and it,,is natural that she ' should desire to have the' whole as originally the island was hers, ’and was acquired by Russia- only through deceiving Japan into- accepting the worthless Kuriles _ II Japan - does not wish t-o share Saghalien with Russia much less doesshe desire to share it with any other country. The island has valuable coal mines, timber limits, and furs. The petroleum deposits are being prospected, but. are? not yet developed. The ' concessions for ’ petroleum prospecting, granted to the American Sinclair Company , before Russia vbegau negotiating with Ja-pan, are, a violation of Japan’s policy of preventing further concessions to Western nations in Eastern Asia. This the Soviet has Oeeii hesitating to accept, since it is in the presence of the American j company that Russia finds a sense or security. As the American, company has not yet invested much capital in nrospecting its concessions in Saghalien, while Japanese companies have already spent millions in this work, Japan contends that the occidental company can be compensated and dismissed. It remains to be seen whether the Soviet' has consented to this. ■ To suppose that Japan is 'dependent on Saghalien for oil, however, is a- mistake, for Japan’s own wells are far more productive than Saghalien can hope to he for a considerable time to come. Japan annually imports oil to the volume of some 110,000.000 gallons, and the value of over 61,000.000 chiefly from America- and Java, hut the home output is fully equal to this, ~ if not now greater. ikf