REACHING SOUTHWARDS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 63, 14 February 1939, Page 6

REACHING SOUTHWARDS.

The occupation of the island of Hainan, at the extreme south of China, by the Japanese brings their war against the Chinese to a point so far southwards as to create suspicion of Tokio’s actual intentions. A spokesman asserts that the expedition has been undertaken to suppress bases north of Hainan from which pirates are supplying the Chinese forces with munitions, and denies that it has been actuated by territorial ambitions. It so readily happens, however, that temporary occupation leads to permanent control that the Japanese may well be suspect in their latest move. France has a particular interest in the matter, as Hainan is a short distance from the northern coast of Indo-Cliina, and she is reported to be watching the situation. Her sphere of influence extends to the island, but chiefly in a commercial way, as there are no French forces or police there. The manner in which Japan has carried the war against China southwards constitutes a menace to Western Powers such as Britain, France, and Portugal with interests in the Far East. Britain is keenly watching the new development owing to the threat to Hong Kong. Some months ago it was reported that France was planning a naval base at Cam Ranh, fronting the South China Sea, to safeguard her possessions. She has considerable holdings in the Pacific as well as territory close to China. Appeals have been made by colonial administrators and industrialists in Indo-China to Paris to take adequate defensive measures, and if the base is built at Cam Ranh a position of the greatest strategical importance will be available. Moreover the harbour is a strong natural one, capable of accommodating the entire French fleet. At present it is a submarine base, the port being of secondary commercial importance. Japan can offer no serious objection to any French movement as mentioned. She has created the menace to other Powers by her ruthless war against China and the further south she has gone the greater this menace has become. The Washing-ton Treaty of 1922 strictly banned the development of naval bases by the United States, Britain, and Japan within certain limits, and having destroyed the treaty instead of seeking to have it extended to bring in other nations, Japan must surely regret her untimely action.