Manawatu Evening Standard. SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 1940. DUTCH EAST INDIES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 121, 20 April 1940, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 1940. DUTCH EAST INDIES.

No circumstances exist at present to justify the Japanese view that the Allies may occupy the Dutch East Indies if Holland is drawn into the European war. Mr Arita’s statement, based on such a premise, that Japan will take counter measures should the conflict extend to the Pacific, is both premature and provocative. There is no guarantee that Holland will not be attacked by Germany, but for the present that country remains free from aggression and is quite capable of administering her rich possessions in the East. Hut even were Holland invaded and she resisted, Japan would have no legal or moral right to interfere in the Dutch East Indies by military action. In the Great War Belgium, though almost wholly invaded by the Huns, kept a small corner of her country inviolate, and there the Government carried on its business. All the time Belgian possessions remained unaffected. In the present war Iceland is undisturbed though Denmark is held by the Nazis.' The Allies, it may be well said, have no intention should Holland unhappily become involved of occupying the Indies, well recognising that the Government there is capable of acting independently until victory has been won. For Japan •to say that “any change of policy regarding Ear Eastern possessions must be accomplished only with her lull consent and concurrence” makes her suspect. Dutch opinion has been prompt to say that any attempt to provide unrequested, unrequired will be regarded as an act of hostility, necessitating counter measures. Japan should realise that so far as the Allies are concerned the status quo in the East is a matter of the greatest importance to them, because of their valuable possessions there. The United States has the same important interests to safeguard. Washington has therefore intimated in tire plainest terms that foreign nations must respect the status quo in the Dutch East Indies irrespective of what' happens in Holland. Mr Cordell Hull, in a blunt reply to Mr Arita, rightly declares that intervention in the domestic affairs of the Indies, or any alteration in their status quo by other than peaceful processes, will be prejudicial to the stability, peace, and security of the entire Pacific-. That is a warning too plainly written to have its meaning escape Japan's official notice. The interests of Britain, France,, and the United States demand that Japan will carefully restnfin herself in this matter. So long as she acts according to international law there is no need for the war to extend to the Pacific. Although both Japan and America wish to see the status quo respected their statements are based on different planes. The former

is concerned lest her economic relations are disturbed, the latter from the far more important international standpoint. But the Ufiited States and Britain are equally interested in the commerce from these valuable possessions which have steadily developed under Queen Wilhelmina’s beneficent rule. In fact both countries have greater interests to preserve than Japan. This State, however, has been looking southward for several years and the war in China may be regarded as preparatory to another move, which competent observers have long felt is being' directed towards the Dutch East Indies. Such a policy immediately involves other countries, not the least of them the United States which has promptly issued its warning. Japan cannot ignore its implications if she wishes the Pacific to remain outside the war.