JAPANESE RIGHTS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 244, 12 September 1933, Page 7

JAPANESE RIGHTS.

IN FAR EAST ISLETS.

QUESTION OF SOVEREIGNTY.

TOKIO, Aug. 4

Japanese officials state that the question of the sovereignty of the islets in the South China Sea occupied by the French may be raised in the Government representation to Franco, as well as the question of Japanese commercial rights. In the meantime a decision has not been reached, as the legal studies are being prolonged. The Rasa Island Phosphorus Ore Company’s statement to the Foreign Office presents a massive array of detail in support of Japanese claims to priority of occupation. Of the nine islands which the French have annexed, the Rasa Company occupied six, as well ns three others in the same region which the French have not annexed. The expedition sent by the Rasa Company “discovered” five of these islands between December, 1918, and January, 1919, and a second expedition sent in 1920 “discovered” the other four. This expedition erected landmarks on Ituaba, which the Japanese named Nakajima. They established an office there, with branches in eight other islands. All the islands were given Japanese names. It is further stated that the Japanese Consul-General at Hanoi notified the French authorities there of the Rasa Company's activities, but the French then showed no interest in the islands.