FAR EAST MOVES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24735, 11 October 1941, Page 9

FAR EAST MOVES

TOE ALLIED FORCES FULLEST CO-ORDINATION REINFORCEMENT OF SINGAPORE (Rec. 9 p.m.) RUGBY. Oct. 9. Recent Japanese encroachments on French sovereignty in Indo-China, while evidently humiliating even to the Vichy Government, which sighed a protocol with Japan for the “joint defence” of the colony, would suggest the possibility, in the words of The Times, that “ thess actions may be a prelude to. further Japanese adventures in ‘Greater East Asia,’ which naturally invites a careful study by the Allied and American Governments.”

The Times points out that “further reinforcement of the fortress of Singapore and the series of conferences there in which Mr Duff Cooper, who is now visiting Burma and India, the Ambassador to China, and British Ministers to Batavia and Bangkok, and Britisn service chiefs in the Far East have taken part, together with further contacts in Hongkong, indicate the War Cabinet’s realisation of the necessity for the fullest co-ordination of Allied defensive measures in this region. The appointment of Mr V. G. Bowden to be the Australian Government’s chief liaison officer at Singapore is another significant move. No less important was the visit to Manila of Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham to confer with General Magruder. and no doubt with the American service chiefs in the Far East. Last, but not least, Mr Churchill’s message and the Viceroy’s speech to the first meeting of the Indian National Defence Council would emphasise the increasing imr portance of India as a military and industrial factor in war. an importance that is not confined to th« Near and Middle East. "These moves,” The Times concludes, “are likely to enjoin caution on the statesmen who will be ultimately responsible for the direction of Japanese policy. They are more prudent than a clique, and the fiasco of the Changsha campaign has given them a weapon, of which they may yet avail themselves.”