JAPANESE REPLY

Taranaki Daily News, 15 February 1933, Page 7

JAPANESE REPLY

ATTITUDE ON MANCHUKUO CHINA’S SOVEREIGNTY DENIED HER REFUSAL TO WITHDRAW NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE PROPOSALS OF THE LEAGUE By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. Rec. 10 p.m. Geneva, Feb. 14. The Japanese Governments reply to the Committee of Nineteen has been received. It is understood Japan refuses to rcognise China’s sovereignty over Manchukuo, or to cease operations in Jehol province. Japan considers that the constitution of the autonomous State of Manchukuo is the sole guarantee of peace in that region. Japan must therefore decline to adopt the proposals of the Committee of Nineteen. Mr. Matsuoka told Sir Eric Drummond that there were 150,000 Chinese massed on the Jehol frontier and the only way to prevent bloodshed was to secure the withdrawal of these troops. The Japanese operations were purely in the nature of police control. The Governor of Jehol himself has asked for Japanese intervention. Mr. Matsuoka added that Japan would njt break the peace if China did not attack. Mr. Matsuoka, exclusively interviewed by the Daily Mail, said Japan did not want to withdraw from the League of Nations, but Japanese opinion would compel this if the League condemned Japan. Japan had shown China that she could not disregard treaties, the boycott and the attack on Japan with impunity. Japan could not brook foreign interference in her dealing with China, which never controlled Manchuria. Giving her control now would be giving her machinery she could not operate. “We Japanese are proud people," he added. “We can be influenced by friendliness but we cannot be dictated to. We would not attempt to dictate to a Western Power; the time has passed when Western pressure can bling us to terms.”

The Committee of Nineteen has completed the final part of its report on the Manchurian situation. It declares that the obligations under the League Covenant, the' Pact of Paris, the Nine Power Treaty, and the Briand Declaration must be observed, and asks , the Assembly to accept the principles enunciated in chapter nine of the Lytton report as necessary conditions to settlement. It recommends the establishment Of a, committee of negotiation to effect the withdrawal of Japanese troops and establish ah. autonomous Government in Manchuria. The Assembly will decide what nations will be represented on the committee of negotiation. The United States and Russia will be invited to participate. Members of the League were asked to do nothing to prejudice the work of the committee, and they are enjoined to refuse to recognise the existing regime in Manchuria. A disputant failing to comply with the invitation to negotiate will be deemed to have refused to accept the report. ' u

Mr. Soong, acting Prime Minister of China, declared: “Japan has not declared war on China, but to all intents and purposes it is carrying on a war against us. Any further advance by Japan unquestionably will be resisted by the force of the entire Chinese nation.”