Soviet-Japan Pact Ratified in Tokio

Manawatu Times, Volume 66, Issue 99, 28 April 1941, Page 6

Soviet-Japan Pact Ratified in Tokio

LEVER AGAINST U.S.A. • TOKIO, April 25. The Emperor of Japan to-day ratified the Russian - Japanese treaty of neutrality. The pact will become effective to-day fur a term of five years. The Tokio newspaper Nichi Nichi Shimbun, in an editorial, described the pact as an “opportunity” for the United States in the event that she really desired peace in the Pacific, because the pact aimed at peace. This is interpreted as possibly a suggestion of American overtures toward the adjustment of Japanese-American relations. The Asahi Shimbun predicted the restoration of Japanese-Soviet relations "on normal tracks” under which the negotiations of many years’ standing on the demarcation of the ManchukuoMongolian border, a Soviet-Japancse trade agreement, and a long-term fishery pact could be expected to “progress rapidly.’* The Nichi Nichi Shimbun appreciated the merits of the pact as follows: 1. It assures peace on the Manchu-kuo-Soviet border. 2. It gives the Soviet’s de facto recognition of Manchukuo. 3. It has crushed United States ambition to obtain the Soviet’s participation in an anti-Axis group. The paper said: “A 'more important point is that the pact means increased pressure on Britain and the United States in their assistance to the Chungking Government, whereby Chungking will be automatically isolated, thereby contributing to a settlement of the China affair.” Offensive in China (Rec. 28, 12.45) SHANGHAI, Apr. 25. A Japanese spokesman announced today that the Chekiang campaign had been successfully completed and that preparations had been started for a new campaign in the Fukien province for the purpose of cutting off other Chungking supply routes. He claimed that 1000 Chinese were killed and 350 taken prisoner between Saturday and Thursday. Chiang Kai-shek’s home at Renghwa was undamaged and was being preserved.