Boasts Of Jap. Naval Strength

Northern Advocate, 28 May 1941, Page 7

Boasts Of Jap. Naval Strength

(Rec. 1.30 p.m.) TOKIO, May 27. The Navy Ministry’s spokesman (Captain Hideo Hiride) stated that the Imperial Navy was always prepared to meet any eventuality. It had 200 warships engaged in patrol on the China coast, and more than 300 additional warships and 4000 planes stationed in the Pacific, ready at a moment’s notice to defend Japan against any combination of enemies. The spokesman added that the United States was now preparing to convoy merchantmen, so naturally risked entering the war. Japan’s action was clearly defined by the Tripartite Pact.

Ignores Blacklisting The spokesman for the Japanese Ministry for Information (Visc’ount Ishii) told the Tokio correspondent of “The Times” that Japan does not intend either to answer the British action in “blacklisting” Japanese ships or to retaliate. He expressed the view that the blacklisting was intended to force Japan to submit to the navicert system, which Japan could not recognise.

The practical effect of the blacklisting, he added, was that some Japanese whalers would be denied the privileges of the Australian ports at which they usually called, but he indicated that other Japanese ships not on the blacklist will continue to call at British ports.