Big Force for Indo-China

Manawatu Times, Volume 66, Issue 192, 14 August 1941, Page 5

Big Force for Indo-China

GARRISON OF 180,000 Suggested ../ LONDON, Aug. 12. It is learned on good authority that the Japanese High Command is planning to place 180,000 troops in IndoChina, the majority of whom will bo stationed in Western Cambodia, adjoining the Thailand border, says the •Saigon, correspondent of the Associated Press. Colonel Sarablaga, leader of the Thai Boundary Commission, said to-day that Thailand would welcome foreign aid if she were attacked, but at present there was no pressure from any quarter. He added that Thailand could not consider demands for military or naval bases or the right of troops to transit. Any armed attempt to violate Thailand’s neutrality would be resisted by all available means. A Defence Council has been appointed in Burma and given wide powers. Well-informed circles in London are unable to Bee any prospect of a lasting peaceful settlement emerging from the present crisis. They believe that, if Japan does not press the present crisis to the point of war immediately, she will at least remain poised ready to pounce when she thinks the time more opportune. The Japanese Information Board announced to-day that the British Ambassador to Tokio, Sir Robert Craigie, conferred with' the Japanese Foreign Minister, Vice-Admiral Toyoda, on Monday, but declined to reveal the subject. The New York Herald-Tribune says that, if Russia collapses or Vichy agree* to help make the South Atlantic a German playground, then Japan will surge onward.

The Chungking correspondent of the New York Times says that Mr. Wang Bhih-ehieh, Chinese Minister of Pub liicty, told the press to-aav that more than economic sanctions against Japan by the United States and Britain would be necessary to keep the Japanese out of Thailand. Thailand appeared to be resisting Japanese aggression, he added, but would be successful only if support ed by the United .States and Britain.

The Tokio newspaper Kokumin said that the United States and Britain had been warned that any further pressure on Japan would bring nothing but the worst situation, and Japan would go ahead with grim resolve towards the establishment of her Go-prosperity Sphere in East Asia. It is announced in Tokio that the liner Asama Maru, which has been overdue at San Francisco since August i 6, is returning to Japan without touching an American port. The vessel ia carrying 98 passengers, of whom 40 am Americans, and a cargo of 3-million dollars’ worth of silk.