THE WAIKATO TIMES WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7, 1935. JAPANESE AMBITIONS

Waikato Times, Volume 118, Issue 19648, 7 August 1935, Page 6

THE WAIKATO TIMES WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7, 1935. JAPANESE AMBITIONS

“ Japan’s arrow has left the bow and the forthcoming operations in North China will decide the destiny of the Japanese race,” declared an eminent Japanese statesman, Mr Y. Matsuoka. Japan, having flouted the League of Nations and established the State of Manchukuo, is now launching out on another enterprise, and is desirous to accomplish in Mongolia what she has already done in Manchukuo.

The trouble is that the Japanese military powers largely dominate the civil. The civil authorities speak with one voice, the military authorities with another, and unfortunately it is the latter that are most persistent and incisive. It is stated' that General Jiro Min ami (the commander of the Japanese Army at> Kwantung, the Ambassador to Manchukuo and Governor of the Kwantung leased territory) absolutely controls Japanese policy in those regions, and does not deem it necessary to consult the War Office at Tokyo before acting. But having acted irregularly and without the authority of his Governments, his actions are latqr condoned and full diplomatic advantage taken of them.

Last Januai’y the' Japanese Government seemed to hold out an olive branch to the Chinese Republic. Last April they paid it the compliment of raising the status of the Japanese Minister at Nanking to that of an Ambassador. Then the soldiers intervened. “ You are too polite to the Chinese,” they seemed to say, “and you did not consult us. Now you must follow our lead. You declared hearts: we declare clubs.” - As usual, the Japanese Foreign Office stepped aside. The Nanking Government did not protest to the League of Nations, from which Japan has withdrawn, or to the Governments which signed the Nine-Power Pact of Washington and who had hound themselves to respect the territorial integrity of China. They feared, no doubt, that such action would draw fresh lightnings on their heads. They know that fresh hostilities with Japan would'in all probability break that partial union of Central China which they have so painfully achieved, and revive the local ambitions of jealous provincial governments or self-seeking generals from which they had hoped to save their country.

Already the Cantonese are giving trouble, and there are indications of Japanese activities in Kwangsi. North of the Hwang-lio the prestige of the Nanking Government has been sorely shaken, and the effect of this reverse on their prestige and influence in Inner Mongolia can easily he foreseen.

If, as the Tokyo correspondent of the News Chronicle declares, the Japanese military authorities have determined to launch out into operations in Mongolia it will probably develop into a serious business. Japan’s relations with Russia are none too cordial, and persistent reports have been in circulation for many months that, scenting’ aggression in those regions, the Soviet has been making extensive .preparations to meet it.