ISLANDS ANNEXED

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 93, 21 April 1939, Page 8

ISLANDS ANNEXED

SPRATLY AND OTHER ISLANDS JAPANESE ANNOUNCEMENT TOKIO, April 18. A gazette announces the annexation of Spratly Island and a surrounding reef of islets covering 1000 square miles, between 7deg. 12min. north and lldeg. 117 min. east. Official circles in Paris consider that the Spratly, or Storm, group of islets in the South China Sea, seized by Japan, are strategically most important, said a Paris message to the Sydney Morning Herald on April 3. They recall that the French Navy occupied the archipelago in April, 1930, and that the occupation was completed in April, 1933. Formal notice of the annexation was given in the Journal Officiel in July, 1933. The Japanese Government then protested, but in 1935 waived its oojections and recognised the , French ownership. Two months later, however, in consequence of the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese war, the dispute broke out again. Last month France suggested that the matter be deferred to arbitration. The Spratly Group is marked British on the map. Its ownership had, however, been regarded as uncertain until the French annexation. The French Government has protested against the Japanese seizure. There is increasing anxiety in the Philippines concerning the ease with which Japan has seized Hainan and Spratly. Officials in Manila are reported to be closely watching British, French and United States reactions. The Manila Bulletin says: “By no stretch of the imagination can Spratly be regarded as being related to the China war. The seizure of these commercially insignificant reefs gives Japan a central base in a vast area which she declares to be her sphere of influence. It is a new affront to the French, and is increasing the threat to the Philippines.” MURDER OF CHINESE JAPANESE "TRAITOR HUNTERS” TOKIO, April 18. The "Iron and Blood League of Traitor Hunters” murdered by the sword Wang Hseih, general secretary of the municipality of Greater Shanghai.