The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. “Luceo Non Uro.” FRIDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1935. JAPAN AND ITALY

Southland Times, Issue 22774, 27 December 1935, Page 6

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. “Luceo Non Uro.” FRIDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1935. JAPAN AND ITALY

More than five years ago there appeared in some newspapers in the United States an article which announced the details of a plan to divide China into three sections, the northern one of which embraced Manchuria (now Manchukuo), Mongolia and the region about Peking, but excluding Tientsin. Over this independent region, it was stated the Japanese would exercise control. Manchukuo has passed into Japanese hands, and recent events in Mongolia suggest that the stage is being set for a further extension of Japanese “influence.” The League of Nations condemned Japan’s action in Manchuria, and officially the Powers decline to recognize the new State. Letters are sent to the old address, but the word “Manchukuo” is added in inverted commas, so that the indignation of the League is satisfied. But Japanese infiltration continues, and the League is unable to do anything about it, largely because it has been found impossible to achieve collective action against her. The lesson of the Far East should not be lost on the Powers confronted by the action of Italy in Ethiopia—if the invader is permitted to “get away” with a part of the unfortunate country the infiltration process will continue and the subjugation of the Ethiopians will be merely a matter of time. Japan’s seizure of Manchuria was not the outcome of a sudden outburst of militarist anger; it was the result of economic and population pressure, affecting not only Japan but also the Western nations operating in China, and the failure of the League members to do more than pass righteous resolutions was due to their feeling that their interests in Manchuria were not big enough to warrant action. The extension of the Japanese campaign, in accord with the plan revealed in 1929 is a sharp reminder of the fact that the Japanese do not intend to stand still. Undoubtedly

Mussolini was influenced .by Japan’s success when he decided to go ahead in defiance of the League, but he misjudged the League because the members are now alive to the need for collective action. It is not safe to evaluate the Manchukuo and Ethiopian piracies on their immediate results alone, and fortunately it appears that Britain, at any rate, is alive to the future possibilities, if the authority of the League is flouted and Italy is established at the southern end of the Red Sea. At the same time the economic basis to each militarist enterprise must be recognized and the implications of this fact are sufficiently serious to justify the contention that if Italy is halted in her effoi't to seize Ethiopia there will remain the question of her need for expansion, which is the real problem behind the present trouble. Once the authority of the League is established, it will be possible to take up the larger issue with the idea of devising some method by which Italy’s requirements can be met without the forcible seizure of territory, because while the forces which demand the acquisition of open spaces continue to operate in Italy and in Japan the danger of war will persist. The population problem confronts both Italy and Japan, and each country must seek a solution of it. Obviously the injunction to multiply will accentuate the difficulty, but both countries look on a rapid increase in population as a means of augmenting military strength, and nothing less than a sharp indication that the world will not tolerate military aggression will lead them to accept the dictum that where a swelling population is increasing national difficulties countries must do something within their own borders to deal with this aspect of the matter. In the meantime, the people of the British Empire must not close their eyes to the course of events, and they must be ready to assist actively in any steps designed to enhance the protective power of the League.