JAPAN DISAGREES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23431, 22 August 1939, Page 9

JAPAN DISAGREES

SCOPE NOT EXCEEDED. BRITAIN CRITICISED ISSUES AT TIENTSIN THIRD POWERS BARRED - By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Received August 21, 0.50 p.m.) LONDON. Aug. 211 A statement by the Japanese Foreign Office recalling the issues at' the conference between Britain and! Japan reiterates that the Japanese, demands do not exceed the scope of the conference, says a.message from Tokio. Therefore, Britain's action in banning discussions on currency,; silver and other questions because 5 they are not local to Tientsin is not justified. Britain, at the outset of the conference, did not intend ta exclude economic questions, says the statement. She now contradictorily contends that they should be solved in relation to an' ultimate settlement of the SinoJapanese dispute. Japan does not comprehend how a discussion with the signatories ..of the Nine-Power treaty would be useful in settling the Tientsin issues, and will never admit the intervention,of a Power, which would only lead to delays " ~:*i and complications. At a conference Sir Robert Craigie and Mr. Japanese diplomatic representative, had mutually agreed to suspend the Tientsin talks. Britain, in the meantime, was consulting other Powers on currency questions. The Foreign Office spokesman said nothing in either the British or Japanese statements indicated that tho negotiations were ended. He denied the British assertion that the Japanese had requested the handing over of silver at Peking, but could not guarantee such a request would not be made in the future.