The Pahiatua Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1939. HAINAN ISLAND.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14069, 16 February 1939, Page 4

The Pahiatua Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1939. HAINAN ISLAND.

The attention sharply cailed to Hainan Island by the Japanese landing there last week shows no sign of abating. China, according to Marshal Chiang Kai-shek, is unperturbed ; the landing, lie says, will have no effect •on the present war, a.nd even Japanese occupation of the whole island is of no consequence to China. This is not altogether easy to believe. By way of Hainan, it was credibly stated not long ago, war supplies were reaching, the Chinese forces. Übviouslv there are other channels, but the geographical position of this island must have made receipt of imported munitions by so open a southern route fairly important. Recent developments of the Japanese invasion may or may not justify Chiang Kaishek’s assertion that China can afford to be indifferent, but to onlookers, only partly aware of details in the conflict, the situation is not clear. The Japanese, at any rate, are proceeding to occupy all the mam towns of the island, and this action suggests a strategic purpose, not ono merely tactical. Chiang Kai-shek says, however, that he cannot understand how Britain and America can watch unconcernedly this Japanese movement; it provides a base, in bis view, for the cutting of the British routes from Singapore and the American routes from Hawaii On this aspect his reasoning is manifestly sound. France also, not tc enlarge on Portugal’s possession of adjacent Macao, is involved by the nearness of Hainan to French In do-China. Both Britain and France, it is good to learn, are making representations to Tokio. asking for a direct statement of the purpose in the occupation. Hainan Island may be of little consequence to China just now. bur. its naval a<d military occupation by Japan introduces a new and gravely disturbing element into a Pacific situation already occasioning anxiety.