JAPANESE POLITICS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20128, 23 April 1928, Page 7

JAPANESE POLITICS

GOVERNMENT’S SMALL MAJORITY SESSION INDICATED AS EXCITING (A. & N.Z.) TOKIO, April 20. At th e opening of Parliament the parties arc: Selyukai 221, Minscito 217. M. Motoda was elected Speaker by 230 votes to 228. This indicates that the session w T ill be exciting, since the Government has only the barest possible majority. The Emperor will deliver the speech from the throne on Monday. The Government in a statement regarding China says that in view of the change of the situation in Shantung, with the disturbances threatening to involve the regions where Japanese reside, Japan is now compelled to dispatch 5,000 soldiers to the KiochauTsinan rail zone. Pending the arrival of the soldiers three companies from the Japanese garrison in China will be sent to Tsinan as an emergency mca-

sure. The dispatch of troops is an unavoidable measure of self-protection, not implying an unfriendly attitude toward China or interference with the military operations of either the Northern or Southern forces.

The statement adds that the troops will be withdrawn as soon as the Government considers that the Japanese nationals’ safety is assured.