SOLIDARITY IN EAST

Southland Times, Issue 24600, 24 November 1941, Page 5

SOLIDARITY IN EAST

ABCD POWERS CONFER JAPANESE TALKS IN WASHINGTON (Rec. 11.30 p.m.) WASHINGTON, November 22. Representatives of the ABCD Powers conferred for nearly three hours in what was interpreted as a demonstration of solidarity in the Far East. Later the State Department announced that the Secretary of State (Mr Cordell Hull) plans to see Mr Saburo Kurusu and Admiral Kichisaburo Nomura informally tonight. It is confirmed that Mr Hull kept the representatives of the ABCD Powers fully informed of the Japanese talks. Asked after the conference whether he was hopeful of a solution of the Pacific problems Lord Halifax, the British Ambassador, smiled and said: “I’m always optimistic. 1 I wouldn’t undertake to underestimate the developments, or overestimate them. I believe it is best to treat exploratory talks as exploratory, and keep temperatures down.” Mr Hushih, one of the Chinese representatives, appeared cheerful and said the ABCD Powers were in agreement—apparently referring to speculation that a settlement might oblige China to make concessions.

The Washington correspondent of The New York Times says the prospect that the conversation between America and Japan might meet a modicum of success loomed for the first time in a report from Tokyo by Otto D. Tolischus. He stated that the vice-presi-dent of the Imperial Rule Association, General Kisaburo Ando, in a speech said: “Japan must prepare herself to meet the situation in such a manner as to gain victory without waging a war.” ADHERENCE TO AXIS The main obstacle to the negotiations between the United States and Japan is the Japanese adherence to the Axis which the Secretary of State (Mr Cordell Hull) demanded that Japan renounce as one of the basic conditions, says The New York Herald-Tribune’s Washington correspondent. So far the Japanese have shown no disposition to sever the Axis link. The Tokyo correspondent of The New York Times, Otto D. Tolischus, says that the general impression is that only a miracle can lead the negotiations to a success. Nevertheless, even if they break down no immediate move is expected on either side, at least until a further development in the European war. However, the Hochi Shimbun says: “For five years we waged a big war on the continent. Now, whether we like it or not, it will be training for a great war in the future.” The Press gives a bad note to the Diet session. Some papers call on the Government to hold a new general election to reflect the true will of the people. The Nichi Nichi Shimbun says that the gravity of the situation does not em-

power the Prime Minister to evade it. Simultaneously, there is emerging a drive for the reconstruction of the political parties in place of the imperial ruse. The Tokyo correspondent of the Associated Press says that Imperial ordinance has mobilized boys and girls from 14 years and also young men and women for national labour service. A message from Chungking states that work will begin soon on the highway from India to China to supplement the Burma road, starting at Sadiya Assam. According to a message from Tokyo, the Kokumin Shimbun said that Japan might be forced to denounce the Russian-Japanese Neutrality Pact and take firm measures in the event of Russia continuing her quibbling, procrastinating tactics regarding the Japanese protest 19 about the sinking of the Kehimaru. “The American people are aware that at any moment war may be forced upon us,” said Mr Sumner Welles, Assistant Secretary of State, in an article in the official Department of Commerce magazine. “The nation will spare no sacrifice to achieve the final defeat of Hitlerism and all that that evil term implies. We have no doubt of ultimate victory.”