THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, September 28, 1940. JAPAN AND THE AXIS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24415, 28 September 1940, Page 10

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, September 28, 1940. JAPAN AND THE AXIS

An agreement “in principle” between Germany and Japan upon a defence alliance would not be surprising, even though there may be some understandable hesitation on their part to commit themselves to any certain alliance. Circumstances in recent months have pointed to an agreement between Berlin and Tokio as a possible development, perhaps as a prelude, to Japanese entry into the war on the side of the Axis. The Netherlands and France are nations with rich possessions in the East which Japan openly covets. When France capitulated there was a perceptible improvement in Japanese relations with the Axis, the immediate purpose of the Government in Tokio being, presumably, to determine how far and how fast Herr Hitler was prepared to allow Japan to proceed in extending her influence south, into Indonesia. It is scarcely to be imagined that if Herr Hitler had had no other problems on his hands he would have welcomed Japanese acquisitiveness at all in territories which he might regard as his by right of conquest. But Herr Hitler had, and still has, a task in the assault on Great Britain which is requiring the employment of all his resources. He could scarcely overlook the fact that a diversion in the East created by Japan might prove to his immediate advantage, in distracting American interest, and possibly British effort, from the West. That diversion has certainly been created by the active and apparently somewhat undisciplined military authorities of Nippon. What caused the “misunderstanding”—so a Japanese spokesman has described it—which at first changed the entry of Japan into French Indo-China from a peaceful affair to one provocative of battle, is not clear. It is not improbable that the French authorities in Indo-China found their allegiance to the Hitler-controlled Vichy Government worn somewhat thin. The£ had to consider, moreover, Marshal Chiang Kai-shek’s threat that if the Japanese were allowed to enter Indo-China he would invade the country. But an agreement giving the Japanese virtually all they required—for once a foothold was obtained in Indo-China they could take the rest-had actually been signed before the hostilities occurred, and it now appears that the “ incident ” of the opposition which the Japanese encountered has been diplomatically closed. The position remains somewhat perplexing, but not so much so as to conceal the fact that an aggressive Japanese policy has direct relationship with Herr Hitler’s difficulties in the battle of Britain. Japanese opportunism is of an unashamed variety, and the situation in Europe has provided Japan with an irresistible opportunity to attempt a seizure of great spoils in Indonesia and at the same time to win Axis favour by dividing American attention, already distracted by the impending elections, between the Atlantic and Pacific areas. The plan is ingenious. It has yet to proceed beyond the tentative stage. And it appears to assume an artlessness on the part of American leaders of which there is no evidence. Whatever ruses are adopted, the American people cannot but realise that upon the capacity of Great Britain to withstand the totalitarian Powers depends the future of the United States in the world.