JAPANESE STATEMENT IN BERLIN

Southland Times, Issue 23652, 29 October 1938, Page 7

JAPANESE STATEMENT IN BERLIN

LONDON, October 27.

The Berlin Press publishes an interview with the new Japanese Ambassador to Rome (Mr Shiratori) in which he declares that Britain’s predominance in the Far East has ended and that China is becoming a second Manchukuo. The Berlin correspondent . of. The Times says that Mr Shiratori, interviewed b”’ a German correspondent, identified the fall of Hankow with the end of the wat, but foresaw that it would be 10 years before the new China was created. A number of independent governments would probably be constituted under a president, on the American model, with military, political and fiscal union with Japan, who had no territorial aims. China would retain ownership of Hainan Island.

Japan would not share her victory with the Western Powers whose rights would, however, be respected, said Mr Shiratori. British predominance in Eastern Asia had ended forever, German technicians and traders .would, be given preference and totalitarianism would supersede liberalism in Japan. German business and official circles do not welcome Mr Shiratori’s statement, realizing that friendly German and Japanese relations have not prevented interference with German trade in Japanese-controlled areas, and the experience of Japanese methods in Manchukuo makes their extension to China like a nightmare. The Hong Kong correspondent of The Times says that a Japanese officer, Major Mutsutant, specially conveyed the Japanese Army’s respects to the Governor and the naval and military leaders in Hong Kong and gave repeated assurances that third-party interests would be respected. The Chinese report that more than 100 students were killed in a bomb raid on a school in northern Kwantung.

Japan’s total casualties are. computed at 75,000. The governors of the Hunan, Szechuan and Yunnan provinces declare that the country unanimously approves the orderly evacuation of Hankow with a view to conserving China’s military strength for prolonged warfare. They add that the conflict has entered a new state in which China’s difficulties, though increased, will be far less than those of Japan. The governors urge that able-bodied persons should not evacuate their home towns but should participate in their armed defence.