NO OIL FOR JAPAN

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 4 August 1941, Page 5

NO OIL FOR JAPAN

EMBARGO BY UNITED STATES Tense International Situation, says Tokio WAR SUPPLIES POURING INTO INDOCHINA London, Aug. 3. President Roosevelt has issued an order prohibiting the export ot United States’ petrol and oil to Japan. The embargo applies to shipments destined for countries other than those of the British Commonwealth, Western I lemisphere nations and other countries resisting aggression. The United Press says that most diplomatic observers in Washington believe that the obvious implication of the President’s embargo is that the Administration has definitely called for a halt in further Japanese expansion in the Pacific and served a warning that the United States is prepared for a showdown if necessary. The Japanese Minister of Commerce, Vice-Admiral Sakonji, in a statement in Tokio, said the international situation was so tense that a single spark might be sufficient to cause an explosion. Ile said that Japan had frozen New /Zealand, South African and Indian assets, and that the Japanese fleet had taken over the Cam-Ranh Bay naval base ; n French Indo-China. T he semi-official Japanese news agency, Domei, reveals that the South Seas 1 rade Association is the Japanese Government’s chosen instrument for the economic subjugation of Indo-China. It will rigidly police Indo-China’s imports and exports, taking unrestricted charge of vital war materials, such as rubber, vegetable fats, bauxite, zinc and iron, which are no longer obtainable from the Netherlands East Indies. Plans are being completed for the exploitation of Thailand s resources. As a bait Japan offers I hailand the province of Laos and the city of Anghor in Indo-China. In exchange Japan wants a mono poly of T hailand’s production of rubber, tin and rice, plus air and naval bases. Reports from Saigon, French Indo-China. state that Japanese transports continue to arrive in a seemingly endless stream, bringing ' thousands of troops, lorries, horses, bombs, and large stocks of aviation petrol. Warplanes are lined up on open fields, since there are insufficient hangars. Garrisons are being established in various interior towns.

The Bangkok. Thailand, correspondent of the semi-official Japanese news agency. Domei, predicted that Thailand’s trade agreement with Japan would be followed, sooner or later, by Thailand’s abandonment of her economic dependence on Britain in favour of voluntary economic co-operation with Japan. The Japanese Foreign Office announced that Thailand lias recognised Manchukuo. This decision, which is effective from Friday, is interpreted by the authorities in Tokio as a Thailand decision to join in Japan's greater East Asia programme. Domei also reports from Bangkok that the Thai Government has emphasised that it is anxious to preserve a strictly neutrol attitude toward the joint Franco-Japanese defence ol French Indo-China. and that the Thai Government wishes to maintain friendly relations with all Powers. ASSURANCE BY PETAIN In Vichy, Marshal Petain is report ed to have given Admiral Leahy, the American Ambassador, a i assurance that the Vichy Government would retain its independence in Afiica. The British Treus y am ... 1 order bringing Hoi Kong into the sterling area. The White House, Washington, aounced that the action imposing an embargo on the export of oil was taken in the interests of national defence. Excepting to the countries not affected by the embargo, the President’s order prohibits the exportation of motor and fuel oils suitable for use in aircraft and certain raw stocks from which such products are derived. It also limits the exportation of other petroleum products to the usual or pre-war quantities, and provides for a pro rata issuance of licenses on that