Japan May Join Italo-German Alliance

Northern Advocate, 9 May 1939, Page 7

Japan May Join ItaloGerman Alliance

(Received 11.0 a.m.) LONDON, May 8. It is announced from Rome that the text of the Italo-German alliance is being drafted, and Count Ciano and Herr von Ribbentrop will probably meet again early in June to affix their signatures.

The newspaper “II Messagero”- says it will end the rumours that the Axis has split and will counteract the implacable and feverish Anglo-French encirclement plan. A message from Tokio says that the Japanese War Minister, General Itagaki, said it was a matter for con gratulation that Italy and Germany had linked up in a military pact to maintain peace. It was not impossible that Japan might conclude a military agreement with the Axis if Italy and Germany were desirous of that. He added tha: the moral spirit of the Anti-Communist Fact was very deep-rooted. The Minister of Overseas Affairs. General Koiso, said he understood negotiations were going on for the conclusion of a three-Power military agreement. A Japanese Foreign Office spokesman was unable to state whether Japan had ever been invited to join the alliance, but said the policy of strengthening the Anti-Communist Pact was unchanged. The Independent Cable Service says the vernacular newspapers in Tokio unanimously declare that Japan has decided to join the Rome-Berlin military alliance without delay, but the Foreign Office declines to comment.

the agreement is contrary to the Scandinavian policy of strict neutrality, but Finland is more favourable to a pact. Terroristic Reports. A suggestion of the German attitude is that it is Poland’s next move. Terror reports from the Polish Corridor are given increasing prominence in FieldMarshal Goering’s “National Zeitung,” which threatens that if terrorism continues, Germany will act. The tenn used is identical with that used towards Czechoslovakia last year. The Warsaw press, on the other hand, alleges that the Poles at Grosstrelitz, German Silesia, are being terrorised. A Polish school at Jedryn was destroyed, it is reported. The unexpected appointment of M. Szaranoff as Soviet Ambassador to Poland is regarded as a symptom of improving Polo-Soviet relations. .

No Nearer Solution

(Received 3 p.m.) LONDON, May 8. The Berlin correspondent of “The Times” says it is evident that the talks between Count Ciano and Herr von Ribbentrop and the pact resulting therefrom, ,are regarded as having brought the Danzig Corridor and the Italian Mediterranean claims a long step nearer solution according to Axis aspirations. While there are signs that the ItaloGerman Pact has not created the hoped for impression . abroad, every effort is being made to assure the German people that the encirclement policy is as good as shattered. Polish reactions are, being watched carefully for signs of weakness. Latest reports from Warsaw are available to Herr Hitler and Herr von Ribbentrop, whose conference to-morrow will doubtless influence the decision whether a policy of swift action or one of awaiting events will be adopted. Non-Aggression Offer. This decision will also depend on the Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish and Danish attitude towards the pact of non-aggression offered by Germany. A Stockholm message says the Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish and Danish Foreign Ministers will meet to-morrow to discuss the German non-aggression pact proposal. The Swedish and Norwegian press generally is insistent that