THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Tuesday, November 25, 1941. JAPAN'S DIFFICULTIES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24773, 25 November 1941, Page 6

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Tuesday, November 25, 1941. JAPAN'S DIFFICULTIES

Tension appears to wax and wane in the Pacific largely in accordance with the changing moods of Japanese diplomacy. Prior to the departure of Mr Kurusu for Washington a majority of. the Govern-ment-controlled newspapers in. Japan were even more defiant in their tone than during the early stages of the Berlin-Rome-Tokio alliance, when the swift consummation of Japanese plans for Greater East Asia was represented as the inevitable result of an Axis victory in the west. That victory has been delayed. Nor has the East yielded victory. Indeed, the struggle in Russia and in the Mediterranean against Germany is developing,in a manner so contrary to Axis intentions that statesmen in Tokio may well be asking themselves whether the achievement of victory for their friends is now even a long-scale possibility. Certainly the advantages that were promised to Japan from association with the Axis have not materialised, and Japan is herself in no condition to push on with her ambitious programme of southward expansion while she is unaided by her European allies. Herr Hitler is fighting what may yet resolve itself into a losing battle against time and a determined people in Russia, and in the past week another front has been opened up in the North African desert, where the British Eighth Army is pressing relentlessly forward against the German and Italian concentrations. These are developments the potential significance of which the Government in Tokio will not find itself able to ignore or even to discount. It is not surprising, therefore, that another rapid change seems to have come over the Far Eastern scene) in the past few days. Mr Kurusu went to Washington with a series of demands the acceptance of which would have involved the almost complete surrender of the Allied Powers in the Pacific to Japan. If report does not err, the special ' envoy from Tokio discovered in the first of his talks with Mr Cordell Hull, , the American Secretary of State, that terms of settlement, to be acceptable, could not be wholly drafted in Tokio. He was presented, in brief, with an alternative formula, which required, among other conditions, the withdrawal of Japan from the Axis, the co-incidental withdrawal of her forces from China and Indo-China, the abandonment of further aggressive intentions, and ihe recognition of the trading rights of all other nations in the Pacific. Neither Mr Kurusu nor his principals in Tokiq can have had reason to be by such an uncompromising stand on the part of the Powers for whom, it seems clear, Mr Cornell Hull was in a position to act as spokesman. But Japan is continuing the talks in Washington, presumably on the basis of Mr Hull's programme, and if any settlement is to be reached it can now be accepted as certain that it will have to correspond more or less with that programme, not with the peculiar conception of justice and equity that lies at the root of Japanese aspirations. A few days ago it was reported from Washington that when Mr Kurusu and Admiral Nomura left the State Department, after the "longest and most hard-hitting conference" in that department's'history, they took with them a stern American warning that' a single further aggressive step by Japan might bring down upon her the weight of the "strongest coalition of military power the Far East had ever known." It is probable that this report corresponds closely with the facts. Japan is already feeling the effects of an economic blockade that can be made even more severe. She is not able to foresee any satisfactory outcome of her war with China, and China has the promise of increasing Allied aid. British strong points, at Singapore and elsewhere, have been enormously strengthened in recent months. Air power has been built up and plans have been concerted for full co-operation between the United States, British and Netherlands naval forces throughout the whole of the threatened area. If, as is now suggested, Japan aims at " peaceful co-operation" in the Pacific, it is not unreasonable to assume that circumstances are conspiring to bring her to a more sober and practical frame of mind. It is not to. be imagined, however, that the danger of the collapse of the peace structure in the Pacific has been removed. The imperialist party in Tokio may yet be strong enough, or foolish enough, to force the issue for war, even though warnings of Allied preparedness have been given in the plainest terms. It can be said, however, that present signs are less gloomy than they have been for a few weeks past.