JAPAN LOOKS SOUTH

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24254, 23 March 1940, Page 12

JAPAN LOOKS SOUTH

ECONOMIC EXPANSION NO TERRITORIAL AIMS It is the ambition of Japan to make economic but not territorial expansion in the East Indies and the South Seas. In a speech made in Japan a few weeks ago, Mr Miyake, of the Social Mass Party, said that Japan should develop resources in the Netherlands East Indies, the Philippines, and other South Seas countries, but first should conclude a non-aggression pact to make clear that she had no territorial aims. The Foreign Minister, Mr Hachiro Arita, said economic expansion southward was necessary, but added that many ' European countries looked askance at non-aggression pacts. A recent despatch to the New York Times says Mr Arita expressed Japan's desire to make economic advances into " various countries " in the South Seas. "It is obviously necessary," he said, " to tighten our economic relations with various countries in the South Seas. At the same time, Japan must emphasise her lack of territorial ambitions in these areas. We have no such ambitions, but only desire to utilise and exploit the natural resources there.