TERMS FOR JAPAN

Southland Times, Issue 24598, 21 November 1941, Page 5

TERMS FOR JAPAN

AMERICA’S FOUR POINTS WASHINGTON REPORT (Rec. 8.30 p.m.) NEW YORK, November 19. The Washington correspondent of The New York Herald-Tribune learns from reliable sources that the Secretary of State, Mr Cordell Hull, presented the following programme to the special Japanese envoy, Mr Saburo Kurusu, as a basis of a general settlement of • Pacific problems:— (1) Japan to leave the Axis. (2) Japan to renounce further aggression. (3) Japan to withdraw her army from China and Indo-China. (4) Japan to permit equal trading rights for all nations in the Pacific. Mr Kurusu is still awaiting instructions from Tokyo. The Japanese newspapers today adopted a more conciliatory attitude towards the United States, but the Japan Times-Advertiser referred to the arrival of Canadian troops in Hong Kong as one more instance of unwarranted provocation in the Far East, states a Tokyo message. The newspaper stated: “The defence of Hong Kong is impracticable in such an isolated position and it was not made any more definite by the arrival of further battalions. A better move all round would be the withdrawal of the British forces and a greater trust in Japan’s assertions that her aims in the Pacific are peaceful co-operation.” Major-General Naotake Sato, Chief of Military Affairs, expressed the opinion that revision of the anti-air raid regulations as suggested by the Government would make it impossible for a single enemy plane to reach Japanese territory. OFFENSIVE STRATEGY The Washington correspondent of The New York Times, Arthur Krock. says two new factors have reversed all United States military plans in the Pacific, giving the Philippines an offensive instead of the long-accepted defensive role. One factor is the naval alliance with Britain, joining for all practical purposes the fleets of the two nations in the Pacific. The other is the coming of age of aircraft in battle. If the American commanders in the Philippines should decide to defend by attack there are enough bombers and of sufficient strength to drop bombs on Japan, land in Siberia and refuel and bomb Japan again and to repeat the enterprise on the return trip to Manila. This new establishment in the Islands would release the United States Fleet in the Pacific for heavy operations in conjunction with the British Fleet. That would create a naval force outnumbering the Japanese and capable of making an attack of its own. INFORMATION FOR JAPAN Before Mr Kurusu leaves Washington, adds Mr Krock, he may be officially acquainted with these new circumstances of war-making in the far Pacific area for official transmission to his Government. The information will probably have an important effect on the progress of American-Japanese discussions. There are supporting details equally reassuring to the United States which remain locked among the secrets of the War and Navy Departments.

America’s plans for naval co-opera-tion with Britain in the Pacific are now believed to be complete and ready for “press the button” application, says The Daily Express foreign editor in a message from Washington to London. If the Japanese war lords insist on a showdown Japan will find herself facing a long-range blockade. The main body of the United States Pacific fleet would remain outside Japanese waters while submarines, bombers and light cruisers would harry Japanese naval supply lines to China and Indo-China.

The message adds that when Mr Kurusu and Admiral Kichisaburo Nomura, the Japanese Ambassador, retired after the longest and most hard-hitting conference in the history of the State Department they took with them a stern American warning that a single further step by the Japanese war lords might bring down the Japanese Empire under the weight of the strongest coalition of military power the Far East has ever known. The American opinion attributes Tokyo’s ferocity to the Oriental desire to put up a good bargaining counter. CRUISERS AT SAIGON It is authoritatively stated in London that four Japanese cruisers have arrived at Saigon. There appears to be no particular reason for the movement of the ships except as a demonstration and the type of pressure which is likely to rc ?ur. The Associated Press Manila correspondent says America’s fast-growing air power in the Philippines has necessitated the requisitioning of the Nielson airport and other commercial aerodromes. The shuttle air service between the United States and Hawaii will be discontinued on November 30. One clipper will be used for defence purposes. A Tokyo message says the Minister of Agriculture, Mr Koname Ino, told Parliament that Japan’s food supplies will last for two years, even in the worst eventuality.