JAPAN'S PUPPET AT NANKING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23619, 1 April 1940, Page 8

JAPAN'S PUPPET AT NANKING

Japan planned long and carefully to give a semblance of legitimacy and genuineness to the so-called Chinese "national Government" just inaugurated at Nanking under Mr. Wang. It must therefore be a bitter disappointment to Tokio to see the cherished, project torpedoed at the outset by the uncompromising statement of Mr. Cordell Hull, American Secretary of State. He casts doubts on the bona fides of the puppet regime at Nanking and declares bluntly thjit the United States will continue to recognise Marshal Chiang's Administration at Chungking as the National Government of China. The rebuff to Tokio is direct and the repudiation of Mr. Wang's pretensions complete. The pious hope of the Japanese Foreign Minister, Mr. Arita, that Washington would accept the puppet as genuine has been defeated as soon as it was uttered. Nor is there any reason to suppose that the reaction of London will be otherwise. The British Government shares the American view that the Chungking Government is "supported by the great majority of the Chinese." Japan had built much on the successful inauguration of Mr. Wang and is bound to feel the prompt pricking of the Nanking balloon by America, the nation which she most desired to mollify. Mr. Wang himself might have been considered a substantial pawn in the Chinese political game. A foremost disciple of Sun Yat-sen and an ex-Prime Minister of China, he might have provided the required camouflage for Japanese designs had foreign Governments, and especially Washington, been more complaisant. As it is, his true status stands exposed. His Government can survive only under the protection of Japanese bayonets and Tokio is still left with the problem of gathering the fruits of the military Conquest of most of China.