JAPAN AND FAR EAST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17885, 13 September 1921, Page 5

JAPAN AND FAR EAST.

WASHINGTON PROGRAMME.

OUTLINE OF CONCESSIONS. A BARGAIN WITH CHINA. By Telegraph—PreßS -Association—Copyright. (Received 11.30 p.m.) A. and N.Z. TOKIO, Sept. 11. It is understood that General Tanaka Minister for War, ■mil be the Japanese military delegate to the Washington conference. Some evidence of the shaking up of Japanese sentiment in Far Eastern questions as a result of the proposed conference can be seen in the announcement of the Nichi Nichi Shimbun that the army leaders approve an abatement of the 21 demands -on China, provided that Japan is permitted to purchase rights over Port Arthur and in Southern Manchuria. The newspaper adds that Japan will offer this to the conference and will even express her willingness to withdraw her troops from Northern and Central China, provided that China opens the interior for foreign trade. The withdrawal of Japanese troops from Siberia will be assured after a Russo-Japanese commercial treaty is negotiated. Japan will offer to reduce her army to 21 divisiona The correspondent of the Sydney Sun at Tokio, kn a recent cable despatch stated: —Japan's policy in connection with the forthcnming Washington conference was submitted to the Emperor yesterday by the Pin me Minister, Mr. Hara, and it is understood that it was approved of. The policy determined upon includes — (1) An insistence upon the status quo in respect to the lease of the Liao Tung peninsula, which includes Port Arthur. (2) The maintenance of vested rights in the South Manchurian railway. (3) A settlement of the Shantung ques-, tion directly with China. (4) The continuance of the Yap mandate, according to the Versailles award. | These are the cardinal points upon which Japan as adamant. The others will be the subject of a most complete exchange of views. ' AMERICA'S DESIRE. CO-OPERATION WITH BRITAIN.

WASHINGTON. Sept. 2. The correspondent of the Times at Washington has received from a competent observer who toured California and the Middle West, a summary of opinion in the United States regarding the forthcoming conference on armaments at Washington. The Middle West, states the correspondent, is less concerned than California with the Pacific problem. The Middle West instinctively regards the conference as the touchstone of Angft>- American solidarity. Its attitude does not imply inimical feelings toward Japan, though there are anti-Japanese Americans as well as anti-British Americans. The people ilo not grasp political subtleties and the Government is not likely to go an iDch beyond what it thinks the peoples understand and approve. There is throughout the land a profound and astonishingly precise desire for an increasingly hearty co-operation among the English-speaking peoples of the world.

The prevailing belief is that the Government, with information more ample than the public, is anxious to prevent the growth of a situation potentially as dangerous as that which obtained in Europe before the war. Throughout' the cotinrty and in Government spheres is found a con viction that the immediate aims and eventual purposes of Britain and the United States are identical, and that the leaders of the English-speaking races and other peace-makers will be able to come together to place the world beyond peril. A POWER AT CONFERENCE. SKETCH OF C. E. HUGHES. LONDON. August 29.

Lord Northcliffe, in a special article in the Times, states: "The figure of Mr., Charles E. Hughes, United States Secretary of State, will stand oat against the background of the Washington Conference. It has been ill-informedly suggested that when the idea was first mooted the Harding Administration did not realise the bigness of the. business set afoot. " Those holding this view cannot have discussed the conference with Mr. Hughes, who sees that it raises, and cannot without disaster fail to settle, issues immediately more dangerous than those of the Paris Peace Conference.

" He will be in direct contact with the delegates, and in his pursuit of the interests of the United States will be guided only by what he and the President think right. Governments which are sincere with him he will respect and trust as soon as their sincerity is tested, but should any prove lacking in sincerity they will arouse in Hughes' mind a distrust which nothing can efface."