LITTLE TO GAIN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23774, 30 September 1940, Page 7

LITTLE TO GAIN

SIGNATORIES OF PACT DOUBTFUL USE TO JAPAN EFFORT TO FRIGHTEN AMERICA British "Wireless LONDON, Sept. 27 The announcement by the German radio of a military pact signed by. Germany, Italy and Japan has caused little surprise in London, in view of the flood of propaganda which preceded it from German, and, as usual, from the -faithfullyechoing Italian sources. No official comment is offered in London on the pact. Unofficial observers of the general situation find it difficult to discover what Japan may expect to get out of the agreement. It is, in their view, equally obscure what raw materials or other assistance can be contributed by Germany and Italy, who are now .putting forward their maximum effort against the British Empire. The reference to the Japanese "new order in Asia" appears to be purely academic.

No Axis Contribution There is no sign that Japan needs German and Italian assistance in promoting the plans she has conceived independentiy. Neither Germany nor Italy is in a position to make any contribution whatever. The agreement appears to be designed to have the maximum propaganda, if not material value, for Germany and Italy, but its utility to Japan is extremely doubtful, and commentators in London find it difficult to resist the conclusion that Japan has been hurried into an arrangement which can bring her only embarrassment in undertakings she will have to carry on alone. It is noted that Article 3 of the agreement provides for Germany, Italy and Japan to agree to collaborate on all questions and to aid each other by all economic and military means if one of the three signatories is attacked by a nation not taking part in the war—a provision designed presumably to intimidate the United States, as it is difficult to suggest any other Power to which it could possibly refer. American Aid for China There is a natural inclination on the part of the press to read this article in relation to recent moves at Washington and notably last night's announcement that an embargo has been placed from October 15 on the export of iron and steel scrap tQ all nations, save those of the western hemisphere and Great Britain. , This announcement was accompanied by 'the news that the United States Metal Reserve Company had agreed to buy £7,500,000 worth of tungsten from China, and that the' Export and Import Bank, another official institution, is to lend China £(>,250,000. Washington messages add that President Roosevelt is deeply preoccupied with the Far Eastern problem.