THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Friday, February 7, 1941. THE PRECARIOUS EAST

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24526, 7 February 1941, Page 6

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Friday, February 7, 1941. THE PRECARIOUS EAST

There was cause for the suspicion that when Japan undertook, presumably oh her own initiative, to mediate in the dispute between Thailand and French Indo-China, the gesture was not made in a disinterested spirit. Japanese spokesmen admit, indeed, that everything that happens in the South China Sea and the north-western Pacific—the territory that is grandiloquently designated as "Greater East Asia"—is of intense interest to a country which is anxious to extend proprietary rights oyer that vast area. Mediation does not 1 appear to have been concluded, and it is unlikely to provide the comparatively Weak contestants with great satisfaction when awards are made. Any advantage gained by Indo-China, or more possibly by Thailand, is not likely to be of enduring value, if Japanese intentions are carried info effect. But already, while an uneasy armistice exists, the Japanese are reported.to be planning their own reward for having induced the Thai and French forces to abandon their frontier squabble. The suggestion is that Japan's immediate objective is a naval base on Camfanh Bay, in Annam, the little kingdom which is part of the French Indo-Chinese Protectorate. The strategic importance of a base at this point may be most easily judged from a glance at the map. While virtually commanding the Gulf of Siam, it would provide a harbourage from ;which war vessels would" be within ea>y striking distance of the Netherlands Indies and Malaya. The propinquity of such a base to Saigon would/ in addition, place this most important of southern Indo-Chinese establishments under Japanese surveillance; even if Japan does not occupy the city. The report of a few days- ago that French troops were concentrating in ' Cochin-China to strengthen the defences of Saigon is now followed by a report that Japanese troops are being taken thither--ostensibly to enforce the

armistice ;terms. The threat to the Netherlands Indies, to British Malaya, and indeed to Singapore, which is inherent in these latest moves by the Japanese is not one that can be ignored. It is emphasised by the statement of the Japanese Foreign Minister, Mr Matsuoka, in the -Diet that " diplomatic victories " are bringing Japan closer to Singapore. His disingenuous observation that Japanese expansion is not inconsistent with American; interests however, that his Government hesitates to take a step;: that would involve its country in war. His hope of dissuading the United States from intervention in the East While theiNetherlahd Indies and Indochina. ;are cynically appropriated must be frail. But the rather desperate quality of his appeasing statement for the benefhvpf America, 'while he is impudently;;threatening Singapore, suggests that Japan remains poised on the knife-edge between aggression and " diplomacy." It is a precarious position, which cannot be maintained', indefinitely. The time is most opportune for the Government of the United States to meet" Mr Matsuoka's blandishments With a declaration of policy which even he: cannot fail to comprehend.