ITALY, GERMANY, JAPAN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22580, 19 November 1936, Page 10

ITALY, GERMANY, JAPAN

What will happen if a close antiCommunist compact be negotiated by Italy, Germany and Japan? This question is by no means idly speculative ; it is raised as a practical issue by advices from Tokio, transmitted to the Times by its Shanghai correspondent. The possibility of such an agreement is strengthened by international movements in Europe and the Orient. Politically translated, "anti-Communist" means Soviet Russia, feared by Germany, suspected by Japan, instinctively and pointedly disliked by Italy. Current tendencies are throwing these three into each other's arms. All have drawn away from Genevan projects of collective security. With only a superficial difference, each is seeking a national expansion of territory, and each nurses a sense of grievance. It may be that hopes of profitable trade reciprocity are a leading motive in the approaches made, but this alone is insufficient to account for the anti-Communist understanding already reached by Germany and Japan. Neither of them has disguised a rooted antipathy to Russia. If Italy adheres to this agreement, the prospect of her effective, cooperation with other nations in the League will vanish, even should there be no formal withdrawal. No doubt Signor Mussolini, if assured of the backing of Germany and Japan, will at least press for the League's recognition of Italian sovereignty in Abyssinia, while the other two, in return, will look to his support for their respective aims—demand for a restoration of colonies and insistence on widely foreign endorsement of aggressive action in continental Asia and the Pacific. This tripartite union of purpose would further weaken the League and hasten the contrary achievement of a return to the system of alliances. Much therefore depends ori the precise nature and progress of the negotiations now reported.