SINISTER LYING

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXV, Issue 224, 21 August 1945, Page 5

SINISTER LYING

JAPANESE TRICKERY. EMPEROR BUILDING MYTH. (N.Z. Press Association.—Copyright.) LONDON, Aug. 20. A correspondent of the Times, discussing the future of Hirohito, says: "Hopes for a settlement in Japan cannot be realised without the retention of some self-respect by the Japanese, and this is sufficiently preserved at present by the Allied recognition of the Emperor as the supreme Japanese authority. "The Emperor's first _ broadcast, however, perpetuated a lie which is most sinister for the future. By reiterating that Japan had declared war on America and Britain to ensure Japan's self-preservation and to stabilise East Asia he impugned the moral foundation of the Allied war effort. "The future course of Japanese history, unless the threat to universal peace that is implicit in this kind of propaganda is recognised and righted, will be founded on a lie, and our position during the occupation will appear purely military "aggressiveness to the Japanese people. Instead of tbeii willingly accepting retribution and turning to a better way, the Japanese will endeavour to prepare themselves for what will seem to them a righteous revenge." INCREASING DOUBT. General dissatisfaction with Japan since the surrender is expressed by several London leader writers, whoso comments have been largely inspired bv the arival of the Japanese envoys at Manila. The Times says that the arrival of those envoys brings nearer to an end a situation which has caused increasing doubt and irritation in the Allied countries. It adds: "There is evidence enough that tho decision to surrender has thrown the mass of the Japanese people into profound bewilderment. There is even more evidence that the surrender has so far been represented to the Japanese people in such a way as to add appreciably to the difficulties of the Allied task now that the fighting is over. "From Tokio has come no word of oontrition, no recognition of the wrong done to others, and no admission of guilt. Not one of the broadcasts, from that of the Emperor downward, has been one of regret and remorse ; instead they say , that Japan has this time been unlucky." The paper says it is imperative that through the rulers' authority a sense of guilt is brought to the rulers and ruled alike. The Imperial person should become a safeguard under Allied direction against a return of the lust for aggre.-i'non which was responsible for Japan's downfall. The Daily Mail declares: "Ever lince her acce fptance of the Potsdam terms Japan's attitude has been a mixture of shilly-shallying and dilly-dally-ing." It sa3's there must be full and immediate compliance with General MacArthur's orders. "Failing this it may be necessary to remind Japan again in practical fashion that she is a beaten nation." EARLY TRICKERY. Saying that General MacArthur's previous orders as to the time and I manner of dispatch of the envoys had been flouted, the writer goes on:— "It is not surprising that in this country, and even more in the United' States, tho people are becoming highly suspicious of Japan's real intentions. Trickery thus early is a very' bad sign, and no time must be lost in showing those who resort to it that it does not pay." The writer draws a parallel with the situation in Germany in 1918. There is now the same sort of talk—Germany was then able to establish the mvth that she was never beaten, and this can be compared with the recent Japanese broadcast pronouncements. Germany then, and Japan now, ended the war with great reserve power. The Japanese must bo made to realise that their fighters were everywhere thrashed by better men even before the atomic bomb appeared. The News-Chronicle also refers to the bad impression created by Japan's reluctance to complete tho capitulation formalities, and says: "In the minds of. the Japanese rulers there are sinister reservations." It insists that in the surrender terms there must be no room for a recrudescence of military or expansionist ambitions, and points out: "The Allies' problem is similar in kind to the problem that confronts them in Germany, but it is rendered a good deal more difficult by the remoteness of Japan, by the fact that at the time of her surrender no invading army had landed on Japanese soil, and by the inability of more than a few Westerners to speak the language or fathom the Japanese mind. It may be a long time before we are satisfied that they are fit for a share in world government. Until then their urge to dominate their neighbours to the disruption of the world's peace must be ruthlessly suppressed." ,